Reformed Love
by RoseHyperionMalfoy
Summary: Hermione has had enough. After finding out that Ron cheated on her with Lavender Brown, Hermione decides that she deserves someone better, someone will treat her right. But when she and Draco Malfoy get partnered together for a Ministry project, Hermione starts to wonder... could he be that person? (Rated M for later chapters)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Where's dinner?"

Hermione sighed heavily. This was how Ron had greeted her everyday for the past two weeks. No 'hello, love' or 'hi, darling', nothing. Frankly it was infuriating. They had been living together for 4 months and dating for just over a year and half. Not once in those four months had Ron made her dinner, or even had a cup of tea waiting for her at home. No, not home – her home. It was her flat and her food and her everything. Ron didn't even help pay the rent! He had just waltzed right in one evening, settled down, and made himself comfortable. And for the last two weeks, he hadn't even bothered to say hello. He expected dinner on the table every night at six, even if Hermione wasn't home or had just walked in the door. He rarely said thank you and never complimented any of the food. Bloody hell, he never even complimented her anymore.

In the first two or three months of the relationship, Ron had been such a sweetheart - telling her that she was beautiful, and taking her for romantic walks. She had completely fallen in love. And then one morning, it seemed like he had woken up and decided that enough was enough. He stopped taking her for walks, stopped using whatever small amount of manners he had picked up over the years and just generally became a slob. Hermione often found herself staring longingly at Ginny and Harry who always seemed to be looking into each other's eyes, smiling at each other, or holding hands. Harry took Ginny on dates at least once a week, and though Hermione knew that Ron didn't have that much money, taking your girlfriend on a date once in a while with an Auror's salary couldn't hurt, right? But no.

He hadn't even bothered to dance with her at the annual ministry ball last December! Hermione had bought a very nice dress, and spent two hours doing her hair and makeup with Ginny, and Ron hadn't even told her she looked nice. He had stopped romancing her, stopped looking at her, and it seemed like he had stopped thinking about her too. Honestly, Hermione sometimes wondered why she even stayed with him. She presumed that it was because she thought that they were meant to be together - they had been best friends, had conquered Voldemort together, had fallen in love, and so, Hermione naturally assumed that they would end up together as well.

She had spilt her heart to Ginny about Ron so many times and Ginny's advice had always been the same: "He's not good enough for you!" Hermione had always disagreed with Ginny but in the last couple of weeks she had began wondering if maybe her best friend was right. Even though Ron was Ginny's brother, their relationship had become rather strained - Ginny never failed to mention how much it bothered her that Ron was treating Hermione so badly. And two nights ago… phew. Two nights ago, she had had to restrain Ginny from going to hex Ron herself.

Looking back, Hermione could honestly say that the fight she had with Ron was completely ridiculous. She had been so tired after work that instead of cooking dinner, she had quickly gone to the Muggle supermarket around the corner from her flat and bought a frozen pizza to cook in the oven.

She had explained to Ron countless times about ovens, frozen foods, refrigerators and such, but he never seemed to grasp what she was saying. And when he had come home yesterday, Ron had gone into a rage over the fact that there was no dinner. When Hermione had pointed out that there was a pizza cooking in the oven and that it would be ready in a few minutes, Ron had gone on a tirade about how a frozen pizza wasn't a real dinner and how he refused to eat stupid Muggle food. She hadn't known what to say. How could Ron say something like that? The Weasleys were such an accepting family and Ron's dad loved anything to do with Muggles, so how could Ron have acted in such a way?

Ron had ranted and raved for 10 more minutes like a madman about the worthlessness of her cooking and of Muggle food and Hermione had just stood there and let the tears fall down her cheeks. When he had finished, Ron had apparated from her flat and did not come back until the next evening. Hermione had apparated straight to Ginny's and told her what happened, trying to force her not to go and hex her brother on the spot. After Ginny agreed to stay put, Hermione had crumbled onto the sofa and cried for what seemed like hours.

And the next day had barely been any better - Ron hadn't come home until the evening and Hermione's nightmares hadn't subsided a bit. She had gone to various healers and potions masters over the months to try and get some help but nothing seemed to work! She had just spent 20 galleons on another potion that was supposed to lessen the effects of the nightmares but it had had no results.

Every time she drifted off into sleep, Bellatrix's face invaded her subconscious and replayed the events of THAT night. The exact same nightmare, replaying itself night after night, like a broken record. And last night had been the worst; Hermione had woken up crying and screaming Ron's name, but instead of comforting her, he had muttered something about going to get some sleep and left.

He had left her! He had left her, half conscious and sobbing his name, to go and get some sleep. Hermione had almost choked on her tears the next morning, wondering how and when her relationship had gotten so bad that she couldn't even rely on someone to comfort her.

"Hello? Hermione, are you there?"

"Oh Ron, I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought for a moment."

"Where's my dinner?"

Again, Hermione thought. Not 'how are you' or 'I'm sorry', or even 'where's our dinner.' Just the same old greeting. "I'm really sorry Ron, I don't have dinner. I've been swamped at work and didn't have time to cook anything tonight," Hermione answered evenly.

"Ha! Woman, you're a second level worker in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement! What could you possibly have to do? It's not like you do anything important," Ron laughed.

"Just because you think my work is meaningless, doesn't mean that everyone does. And just because you're a third level Auror, doesn't mean that you can throw insults at me." It had taken her all of her strength not to hex Ron. How could he! Did he not have any feelings at all?

"Oh just get over yourself, Hermione. And if we don't have dinner, then I have a better way to occupy our time," said Ron, licking his lips. He advanced toward her and planted a sloppy kiss on her neck before Hermione had time to wriggle away. "I'm sorry Ron, but I am not in the mood. No matter what you think, I do have a lot of work to do and I just can't."

"Merlin," stated Ron, rolling off her and getting up, "you're not even good for a shag anymore. No wonder I went looking somewhere else." At this, Hermione blanched. She hoped beyond all hope that she had heard him incorrectly, or that he was referring to something else, or anything.

But the look on Ron's face, and his scarlet tinted ears, reassured her of the fact that she had not, in fact, heard her boyfriend incorrectly. Drawing up to her full height and gripping her wand with a strength she had not felt in months, Hermione glared at Ron with all the power she could muster.

"What did you say? ARE YOU HAVING AN AFFAIR?!"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it an affair," Ron offered lamely.

"You wouldn't? What would be your choice of words then? Late night infidelity? Playing around? An extra-curricular activity? Is that would you would call it, Ron?" Hermione knew that her voice had risen quite high and that tears were beginning to swim in her eyes, but she didn't care. How could he? How could he? How could he? Those were the only words that she could say. How could he? After everything they had been through, how could he? "Who is the bitch?"

"Look Hermione, I don't think it's a very good idea for me to say who it is."

"Shut up, Ronald! You are in no place to make suggestions!" Hermione turned and moved towards Ron, her hand curled tightly around her wand. "Tell. Me. Who. She. Is." Fire seemed to have ignited in Hermione's eyes and Ron, Hermione was happy to see, looked wary of her.

"Fine. Fine. It's… Lavender Brown." Hermione stopped and went as white as a sheet. He had gone to Lavender Brown - the girl who had laughed at her for years over her crush on Ron.

"YOU LEFT ME, FOR LAVENDER BROWN?" Hermione spat. "Yesterday, you left me seeing visions of Bellatrix Lestrange, drenched in sweat and screaming your name, to go see Lavender Brown?" Hearing her, Ron seemed to find the grace to look slightly ashamed, but it soon passed as he started to look angry instead.

"So what that I left you? You haven't talked to me in days. You barely take care of me anymore! No wonder I went looking elsewhere - you barely even touch me nowadays!"

"I don't take care of you?! You would be lucky to find someone on this earth who will stay with you for as long as I did! I was there for you, always. I cook for you, I let you move into my house, I even let you not pay the rent, and you're telling me that it's okay for you to have an affair because I barely touch you? Relationships are supposed to be more than that! But you know what, Ron? I'm glad you're with Lavender. It relieves me of the task of being a girlfriend to an ass such as yourself," Hermione seethed.

She hadn't been this angry since Ron had left her and Harry in the forest during their search for Horcruxes. What an arse! What an incorrigible arse! Ginny had been right. She deserved someone better than Ron Weasley. She deserved someone who wouldn't talk down to her, who would appreciate her, and definitely someone who wouldn't leave her in the middle of the night.

Hermione Granger refused to be sloppy seconds for anyone - she was a fantastic woman who had lots to offer and deserved someone who would realize that. She was about to hex Ron when she heard her front door slam and turned to see a murderous looking Ginny.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione went white as sheet again and started to slowly back away from where Ginny stood. As her best friend, Hermione had never been on the receiving side of Ginny's infamous temper but seeing the look in the girl's eyes she started to panic. What if Ginny finally had enough of Hermione's whining and was mad at her? Ron was Ginny's brother after all and Ginny always stood up for family. And Hermione for one had never seen Ginny look as formidable as she did now – she looked like she was ready to lose it completely.

'Stop it!' she ordered herself. Ginny had always been there for her before and nothing was going to change now. And Hermione had done nothing wrong! This whole situation was not her fault at all and if she did not stop thinking that then she knew she would break into hysterics very soon.

"Do you mean to tell me," Ginny seethed, turning to Ron, "that you left Hermione here, in the middle of the night, during one of her nightmares, to go shag Lavender Brown?" Ginny's voice was calm but Hermione took another involuntary step back. She seemed to be emitting a raw power that sent chills through her words even though she hadn't even raised her voice. She looked positively livid.

"Am I understanding this correctly, Ronald? You left your girlfriend, screaming your name for help, to go to that TRAMP? You left her for Lavender? You left her? You've been treating Hermione horribly for months and this is the last straw. I promised her so many times that I wouldn't do anything but this is ENOUGH," spat Ginny. Hermione couldn't even move. No, she was afraid to even move. But apparently, Ron was not as Ginny's accusations seemed to have only riled him up more. He did not look the least bit ashamed and Hermione felt her blood boiling beneath her skin. How could he not feel ashamed? Did he have no heart at all?

"Look here, Ginny!" Ron screamed. "You have absolutely no right to tell me anything. I treated Hermione just fine and I will continue to do what I please. You have absolutely no say in what I do or whether or not I choose to shag anyone!" At this, Hermione started silently begging Ron to stop talking – Ginny looked positively ready to murder him. "If I choose to leave Hermione and be with Lavender, it's my business, and I don't give a rat's arse what you think!"

Ron seemed to have finished his little speech and glared at Ginny as if daring her to challenge him. And challenge she did. Hermione had never seen Ginny throw so many curses at another person in a row. She blasted him so that he hit the wall opposite her, and followed up quickly breaking his nose, and sending a curse to his stomach so that he bowled over, clutching his side. And just like Ginny, she finished off with the most brilliant Bat Bogey Hex that Hermione had ever seen. And Hermione didn't even have the energy, heart, or desire to do anything about it – she felt absolutely no reason to go and help Ron. He had hurt her irrevocably, and the only thing she felt like doing was punching him until he bled. What had happened to him? When had he become such a complete ass?

"Hermione, stay here. I'm taking Ron to the Burrow so that mum can deal with him because I'm afraid I might kill him if I look at him any longer. Though I sincerely doubt that mum will go any easier on him." Ginny spoke quickly and before Hermione had a chance to open her mouth to reply, Ginny had grabbed Ron and disapparated.

Hermione sank to the floor and stared at the spot where Ginny had disappeared with a pop moments before – tears didn't even form in her eyes, she didn't think that she could cry over Ron anymore. How could he possibly do this to her?! After everything that she had given him! After everything that she had done for him! After taking care of him! Was she really that horrible? How could he not even appreciate anything that she had done? What did Lavender have that she didn't? Did she have bigger breasts or something? Is that all it took for her relationship to fall apart? Ron couldn't stand Lavender at school! How was it that after everything that they had been through together, after all the times that she had helped him through his brother's death, that all it took was one call of 'Won-Won' (a nickname that he bitterly hated) for him to leave?

Was she really that hard to live with? Hermione knew she could be quite controlling and overly organized but everyone who knew her knew that she deeply cared for the people that she was friends with. Was it because she took too long to be intimate with him? They had had sex for the first time 4 months after the final battle – was it too long for him to wait? Maybe she wasn't open enough with her emotions. Hermione didn't particularly enjoy public displays of affection as it made people stare at her even more than normal and Ron couldn't quite keep his hands to himself. He was always trying to put his hand up her shirt, or to put his hand on her arse, or to pull him to her, but Hermione had always pushed him away. Was it really that mental for her to just want to hold hands? To be able to stand next to him and put her hand in the crook of his arm, just like she used to do with her father? Maybe she should have just let him have his way.

But deep down, Hermione knew that she shouldn't have to do any of that to keep him around. If Ron had truly loved her, he would have been more understanding of her reasons for being uncomfortable and tried to comfort her, not yell at her for refusing to touch him! He would have been kinder about the whole situation and not tried to force her into things. A man who respected her, and loved her would be happy just holding her hand. She wouldn't have to change herself and her beliefs to make him happy. As cliché as it sounded, the right man would love her for who she was. The right man wouldn't mercilessly laugh at her bushy hair, and comment non-stop on her lack of 'slutty' clothing, or repeatedly ask her why she didn't wear make-up if she didn't look that good without it.

Hermione didn't mind being teased a little, but Ron was often quite harsh and heartless. She remembered what Ron had said to her once – '_how am I supposed to show off my girlfriend if she looks like a sack of potatoes? Don't you have anything better to wear?'_ It was true that Hermione did not have the most fashionable wardrobe, but did Ron have to be so cruel about it?! Her head snapped out of it's memories as she heard the pop of apparition and looked up to see Ginny returning. Still a bit wary, she just looked at Ginny and was a bit astonished to feel the girl fling herself onto Hermione and hug the breathing life out of her.

"Hermione, don't you dare listen to a word he said! I know you've probably been thinking a million different things since I left and I'm sure you think you're at fault, but listen to me. None, and I repeat none of this is your fault! Ron is a total pig, and deserves to die alone for what he did to you. You are a wonderful woman, a brilliant witch, and a truly caring person Hermione and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Ron deserves that slag. You deserve someone who will treat you right. You did nothing wrong and I hope you don't blame yourself. I'm here for you sweetie, I'm here," Ginny soothed.

Hermione breathed a small sigh of relief, knowing that Ginny was still going to be at her side. Rationally, she knew that it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help her emotions going a bit haywire at the moment. "You sure, you're not mad at me?" she asked timidly.

"Hermione Jean Granger! I could never be mad at you. I'm just so glad that you are finally rid of that slimy git!"

At this Hermione giggled, "How did mum take it?"

"Oh, sweet Merlin Hermione, you should have been there," Ginny laughed. "Mum took one look at him, and then one at me and looked like she was about to explode so I quickly stopped her and explained what I had heard. And then she did explode. I have never in my life seen my mother so angry. She seemed to gain three inches, went red in the face and yelled so loudly that I almost fell over. Not even Fred and George have made her that mad before. She started whacking him over the head and actually hit him with a frying pan! It was bloody hilarious. She roared and roared and roared swore to never forgive him for his 'obscenely poor choice in judgement.' And then she insulted Lavender, the whore, and started singing praises of you. You should have seen the git's face, he looked terrified! He looked more terrified than he did during the actual battle!"

Hermione burst into laughter and rolled onto the floor. She could imagine the entire scenario – she felt a stab of gratitude to Mrs. Weasley for defending her and laughed some more about her insulting Lavender. "You know what, Gin? I'm actually glad. I'm glad that the git is now with the slag. I can't believe I stayed with him for this long."

"I honestly cannot fathom why you stuck around. He was horrible to you!" Ginny smiled. "You are rid of him, and tomorrow you are taking me to muggle London, and we are going to the spa, and we are going shopping, and we are getting makeovers and spending the whole day like a bunch of giggling teenagers, because you deserve a break."

"That sounds marvellous, Gin. I'm looking forward to it!" And she really was. Enough with Ron and with moping around at her pathetic love life. She was tired, not physically but mentally, and tomorrow she and Ginny would relax. She wanted a makeover, she suddenly decided. No more looking like a sack of potatoes like Ron so eloquently put it – Hermione Granger wanted a change, a fresh start. And tomorrow would be the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione woke up the next day feeling marvellously refreshed. She had had no nightmares during the night and had her most peaceful sleep in weeks. After getting rid of Ron, her stress seemed to miraculously disappear and she had actually fallen asleep without a worry.

As she remembered Ron, Hermione felt a pang of guilt – was he okay? Maybe Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had gone too far and he was seriously hurt? _Hermione, STOP! Stop, you have to stop! _She mentally scolded herself. The jackass deserved every single punch, kick, and slap that he got. He had cheated on her! He had treated her poorly, had degraded her on a daily basis, and had cheated! She was better off without the bastard. The git was with the slag.

Hermione was never one for swearing but Ron had changed all of that. She felt herself gaining new strength and came to the same realization that she did last night, she wanted a makeover. Not a just a physical one but a mental one as well. Gone would be the Hermione Granger that everyone knew and not many people loved. She was sick and tired of being told that she was bossy and boring.

The worst part was that she should have noticed the signs of Ron cheating. She should have realized what was going on. She should have stood up for herself a long time ago, just like Ginny told her to. But she had stayed, because she was too scared to be on her own and to have to prove herself to everyone again. She had stayed because she was too kind to tell Ron to fuck off. She had stayed because she believed in elementary school girl fantasies of true love and happy endings. And for that she truly hated herself.

But today was a new day. She had taken a day off of work for the first time ever and she was planning on using it to her full advantage. Hermione went to go take a quick shower, threw on some clothes and went to analyze her belongings. The closet was up first. She took a quick look through everything she owned, picked up a garbage bag from the kitchen, and threw everything inside. None of it was even remotely worth keeping. Her lingerie drawer was the same – the contents just flew into the garbage bag. Who was she kidding? She didn't even have lingerie, just some simple bras and white cotton panties. No wonder Ron had lost interest. Joining the contents of the bag was her non-existent makeup collection, her granny shoes, her winter things that she hadn't taken out yet.

Everything she owned, she wanted to throw out. Enough of denying herself nice things! She didn't have to look like a tramp, or spend all of her money on clothes but that did not mean that she had to look like her own grandmother. Even her shower essentials were dull and boring! She possessed only the cheapest shower products, not even some scented soap or nice smelling shampoo. Hermione had simply had enough. She mentally thanked Ron for opening her eyes to the sadness that was her life.

She went to eat some breakfast before Ginny arrived and tried to figure out how much money she had to spend today. Again, she mentally thanked herself for not agreeing to join bank accounts with Ron as that would seriously complicate the situation. Reviewing what she knew she had in her accounts – Hermione figured that she had around 200 or 300 galleons to spend. She guessed that saving for so many months finally paid off for her today.

With this happy thought in mind, she noticed an owl flying up to her window. Going up to let the owl in, Hermione's happiness vanished in an instant as she recognized Ron's owl Pig carrying a red envelope. It was just like the git to send her a howler. Who did he think he was? Honestly, how thick could one person get?

_Hermione, HOW COULD YOU? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH YESTERDAY BECAUSE OF YOU? IF IT WASN'T FOR YOUR STUPID BABBBLING TO GINNY, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! YOU ARE SUCH AN UNAPPRECIATIVE BITCH! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WAS DENYING ME THINGS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! I. AM. A. MAN. IT IS YOUR DUTY TO FULFILL MY NEEDS AND TAKE CARE OF ME! AND YOU DEMAND A THANK YOU? IT IS NO WONDER THAT I WENT BACK TO LAVENDER! LAVENDER KNOWS HOW TO BE THANKFUL THAT SHE EVEN GETS TO BE WITH ME. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! WHO'S GOING TO LOVE YOU NOW? I DON'T KNOW OF ONE PERSON WHO COULD STAND BEING WITH YOU FOR AS LONG AS I DID! TO DEAL WITH YOUR BITCHY ATTITUDE AND FRUMPY CLOTHING – YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL THAT I EVEN PUT UP WITH YOU! I DEMAND AN APOLOGY. THIS OWL HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED TO REMAIN UNTIL YOU WRITE BACK WITH AN APOLOGY. IF I AM SATISFIED WITH YOUR RESPONSE I WILL CONSIDER FORGIVING YOU AND RETURNING. _

The envelope disintegrated and the pieces slowly fluttered to the ground. It was just like Ron to do something like this. Funnily enough, Hermione didn't even feel the need to seethe – she was so over the twat. Weighing the appropriateness of her sending a response, Hermione remembered that there were still some of Ron's things lying around.

Her new attitude kicking in, Hermione smiled wickedly – Ron wouldn't know what hit him. Chuckling to herself, she ran to her storage room to find a small box to complete her task. Picking up everything of Ron's that she could find, Hermione placed it in the living room and grinning, set fire to the pile. She felt an odd sense of freedom watching his things burn, as if she was burning ties to a past life. When the fire finished, Hermione scooped up the ashes with her wand, and deposited them in the small box that she had found earlier along with a note:

_The rest of your things. Fuck off, Ronald. _

Short and to the point – exactly how she liked things. Tying the box to Pig's leg, she let him fly out the window again with satisfaction. The asshole would probably think that she was sending him some kind of gift in apology to tell him how much she missed him and that her life was not complete without him. What an idiot. At that moment Ginny flooed into her living room and Hermione ran over to tell her what she had done.

"You did what?! Hermione, that is absolutely brilliant!" Ginny laughed, "when did you get this new kick-ass attitude?"

"This morning! I am tired of being taken advantage of so I decided to stand up for myself. Ginny, meet Hermione Granger, kick-ass extraordinaire."

Ginny laughed again. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Granger."

"So Gin, I have divested myself almost all of my belongings and am in desperate need of a shopping trip. What do you say we head out?"

"After you Miss Granger!"

Hermione and Ginny spent the entire day shopping, and had to apparate back to the house with shopping bags twice as they had too much to carry. After a quick visit to Gringott's, they made their way to muggle London and started off their trip with a visit to a lingerie store that they passed by. Not usually one for skimpy clothes, frilly lingerie or lace, Hermione was astounded at how comfortable she felt in the store and how much she enjoyed making purchases – she had never realized how sexy she felt wearing lace! She bought four negligee's, silk pyjamas, and all sorts of lingerie sets.

Ginny had immensely enjoyed herself in the store, constantly chattering about what Harry would like, or how much he would enjoy seeing her in something like that. At this Hermione had to gag – Harry was like her brother, and Ginny like her sister so hearing what intimate things they would respectively enjoy almost brought her breakfast back up.

From there, the girls had headed to a makeup store they found (Hermione purchased more makeup in one trip than she had ever owned in her entire life), a couple dozen clothing stores and a few high priced shoe stores. Hermione had laughed outright at Ginny's excitement of being at the Body Shop – the girl had never been to muggle London before in and of itself and being in a store filled to the roof with fragrances, lotions, and creams must have been an experience.

It seemed like Ginny had purchased almost an entire shelf of products for herself and had even "accidentally" knocked down a store display of lavender scented products for Hermione's benefit. Hermione had splurged a bit in the store to make up for her complete lack of previous interest in anything cosmetic and came away with some body lotions, shampoo, scented soap, massage oils, beauty oils, lip balms, and nail care items. An attendant had found what Hermione described as a perfect scent for her – vanilla and jasmine with a hint of pomegranate. The smell was sweet and zesty all at once and invigorated the senses.

The ladies had finished the trip with a stopover at a beauty salon where Hermione had undergone a 'complete hair makeover' as her hairdresser had called it, and gotten manicures and pedicures. Hermione's hair now fell in soft curls down her back with very light bronze highlights as the hairdresser had managed to somehow tame her bird's nest and both her and Ginny now sported classic French manicures.

Hermione for one, had never felt so renewed before – her wardrobe, her hair, and everything else about her seemed to have been revitalized. Before, she had always laughed at girls who talked about retail therapy, but now she thought she better understood the concept. It was a wonder what a new pair of jeans could do to one's outlook on life. Knowing that she looked good in whatever she had purchased, gave Hermione a new burst of confidence and buying a whole new wardrobe of clothes that she new she deserved, had sky rocketed her self-esteem.

Ha! She wondered how Ron would react when he saw her again. He would probably have his tongue hanging out of his mouth at the sight of her. The thought of the git panting after her brought a smile to Hermione's face – it seemed that it was time for the tables to turn, after years of pining after Ron and waiting for him to notice her and return her feelings, he would be the one running after her, desperately wanting the newly grown up wallflower.

Ginny stayed for another few hours, planning out outfits with Hermione and laughing with her about Ron's plight. After a quick dinner, she had left under the pretext that she couldn't wait to model some of her new clothes for Harry. After reading another four chapters of a new muggle novel that Hermione had found in the library, she went to bed, for the first time in her life excited about what others would say about her and her new attitude tomorrow at work.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione woke up the next morning feeling just as refreshed as she had the previous day – two nights of a good sleep had done marvels for her complexion. She was actually excited to go to work! Well, she was always excited to go to work but this was her first time going there without knowing that the love of her life thought it was worthless. What an invigorating concept.

A few weeks ago, the ministry had sent a memo to all workers letting them know that the minister decided to allow employees to wear muggle business clothes to work, all in the name of unity and moving forward from prejudices. Today, Hermione decided, was the perfect day to start a new trend. She had worn robes before though, wanting to fit in with all those that thought the idea was ludicrous – Hermione didn't think anyone would take her or her work seriously if she didn't 'join the crowds' so to speak. But for heaven's sake! She was a war heroine! And a muggle-born! If people were going to ignore her because of her muggle clothes, she would find another way to command their attention. She wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing.

Putting on an outfit that Ginny had chosen for her the other day which included a pale pink blouse and black pencil skirt, Hermione went to work on her hair, and her makeup. Previously, she had always thought that make-up was a symbol of conformity and a way to hide imperfections and had therefore never worn any. But Hermione had to concede that she was wrong – there was nothing wrong with accentuating her high cheekbones with a touch of blush and putting a bit of mascara on her lashes to emphasize her almond shaped eyes. Ginny had beat into her that she wasn't covering anything up, just enhancing her assets. And it was true! Her eyes looked fuller, and her cheeks brighter. And what was wrong with wearing a push-up bra to bring out her chest and draw attention to it? She didn't have to always wear her blouse buttoned up as high as it would go. That was what Ron had always told her.

But while Ron had made her feel upset and completely inadequate, Ginny had explained to Hermione that she wasn't emphasizing her body shape just because she was supposed to and because it would appease and please her boyfriend, she was doing it because she was beautiful and deserved to look like a woman. So what if she got more attention? With who she was, attention was unavoidable and there was no point in hiding from it. Ron had just wanted her to look 'shagable' as he so eloquently put it, to flaunt her to everyone around. But she was not some common whore. Hermione Granger was not to be flaunted by anyone.

And that's why she had so adamantly refused to look any different for Ron – a tosser like him would never appreciate the effort that she put in. If she had put on the outfit she wore today, he would have asked her why her skirt was not an inch shorter or why she didn't pop another button on her blouse. But again, Ginny had explained to her that looking like a slag like Lavender, was easy and did not require effort. A girl who was worth keeping exuded class, sophistication, and looked and carried herself like a lady.

After all, self-confidence did wonders for one's appearance – shuffling feet, hunched shoulders, and bad posture like Hermione usually wore were hardly attractive and did not command any sort of presence. And presence was exactly what Hermione wanted. Slipping on a pair of black peep toe heels, she grabbed a quick snack and her purse and stepped into her fireplace to floo to work.

As she walked up to the front desk of the magical law enforcement offices, the first thing Hermione noticed was all the stares that she was getting. Well more than usual that is. She figured quickly that it had something to do with her new appearance so she just put on a smile and walked a bit straighter. She reminded herself quickly that she had vowed not to care about all the attention and to be kick-ass. And kick-ass she was going to be.

Walking up to the secretary, Pauline, at the front desk of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Hermione inquired if there was any mail for her after her day off. The woman just gaped at her as if she had seen a ghost. Hermione didn't think she looked that different from her usual self – maybe it was the make-up. She repeated the question again and only then seemed to get some kind of response from the witch.

"Uh… Miss Granger you certainly do look.. uh, different."

What a charming way to greet someone. No politeness, no tact, no common sense. Much like Ronald. The thought almost made Hermione laugh.

"I just fancied a change. Would there be any mail for me?"

Pauline seemed to gather what little wits she had about her head and spoke quickly.

"Uh, yes these two letters came in for you yesterday. What prompted such a drastic change Miss Granger? I never took you for the fashion type."

And here Hermione was reminded as to why she disliked the assistant so much. Never one to keep her nose out of everyone else's business. Hermione often mused that the woman had taken the secretarial position for the sole purpose of working in the same department as the golden trio. She wouldn't put it past Pauline to be a major cause of the constant flow of gossip surrounding Harry, Ronald, and herself in the ministry and Wizarding World at large. Just two months ago there had been an article in Witch Weekly declaring that Hermione was leaving Ron to be with Harry as they had shared, what Witch Weekly described, as 'loving' looks all day long at work.

Considering the two of them didn't even work together, and that Harry was engaged to Ginny, the idea was quite absurd. Ginny had personally gone to the offices of Witch Weekly and yelled at the editor, demanding the article be pulled from publication – apparently Ronald was not the only one afraid of Ginny's temper as the afore mentioned article had disappeared the very next day. Yet, enough people had read it to renew the gossip mill. Hermione would bet anyone her entire life savings that Pauline had been the one to report the 'loving' looks.

"I didn't realize that my personal life choices were any of your concern Pauline. Thank you for the mail." With that Hermione walked off, not wanting to further converse with the witch and add fuel to the rumour fires. She took the ministry lift to the third floor where her office was located, once again wishing that the ministry would replace the lifts with elevators. Why would anyone want to be thrown around a tiny lift that looked like it belonged on the set of the Titanic if they could just take an elevator?

She was greeted at the door to her office by her floor's assistant, Eleanor. Eleanor was quite a nice girl, thought a bit talkative, and was fresh out of Hogwarts – a Hufflepuff who had been three years under Hermione. As soon as Eleanor noticed her, a sympathetic look passed over her features and she rushed to give her a hug.

"Oh I'm so sorry about what that bastard did to you, Hermione! He deserves to rot in hell for that. Sshh, don't cry, don't cry. He's not worth your tears, love. There are plenty more fish in the sea!" The girl cooed in Hermione's ear while she hugged the breathing life out of her.

"Eleanor what on earth are you talking about?" She was completely confused, and still as rigid as a desk as Eleanor hadn't let go of her yet.

"What do you mean, what I am I talking about? I'm talking about Ron, of course! What he did to you was completely heartless! How dare he sleep with that witch! Wait… Wait. You don't know? OH MERLIN, you don't know!"

Hermione stood dumbfounded as the girl rattled on and on. How had she found out? Did everyone already know? Oh boy, this would certainly get the rumour mill running.

"Eleanor, stop! How on earth did you find any of this out?"

"Well I was visiting my friend Fiona who works as junior Auror and she told me that this morning she saw Harry Potter walk up to Ron as he came to work and punch him right in the face! And then she swears that he started calling Ron a sick bastard for sleeping with Lavender, and that he never wants to see his face ever again. That he's a horrible human being and that he's sorry that he hadn't gotten a chance to hex him last night. From what Fiona told me, he was completely pissed off and off his rocker."

"Oh dear lord, what was Harry thinking? Oh, now everyone is going to spread the news and soon the whole world is going to know. And here I was thinking that I could get away with keeping it under wraps. Ha! Me, and under wraps? Oh, Witch Weekly is going to have a field day."

"Wait, Hermione why aren't you crying? You must be devastated!" Eleanor cried, hugging Hermione again.

"Devasted?" The woman must be insane. Why on earth would I cry at work? Well granted, it is sad to see over a decade of friendship to go down the drain, but come on! "Eleanor, you have obviously never met the man. There is not much to be devastated about."

"Really? You mean you're completely okay with this?" Eleanor asked, surprised.

From one extreme to other it seemed. "Of course I am not okay with this! Who do you take me for? But neither am I devastated. Honestly, there's not really anything to analyze. The git is with the slag." She was starting to say that an awful lot.

Eleanor beamed at her. "Well in that case, I think I have the perfect solution to your dilemma. How about a blind date with a wonderful gentleman that I know? It would take your mind of this whole thing, and besides. You deserve to be treated to lovely meal with a respectable and delectable man! So what do you say?"

Hermione laughed. It looked like it had taken Eleanor less than no time to get over her friend's broken relationship. As nice as dinner with a 'respectable and delectable' man sounded, she didn't think it would be the least bit appropriate, seeing as she had just broken up with her boyfriend. Granted what her boyfriend did was not appropriate either and her relationship had been broken for a long time before the breakup, but still. She was not Ronald, and Hermione vowed not to start losing her morals and doing anything she wanted to.

"Thank you very much for the offer, Eleanor, but I'll have to refuse. I don't think it would be a good idea right now. I'm trying to let rumour die down."

Eleanor harrumphed and did not look pleased. What the hell happened to, Hermione Granger kick-ass extraordinaire?

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, Eleanor, thank you. I actually have a lot of work to do, so I'll talk to you later, yeah?" Hermione moved to open her office door and deposit her things inside but as soon as she managed to turn the key a loud cry of 'HERMIONE!' echoed across the floor. Hermione turned and groaned immediately at the sight of a beet faced Ron Weasley walking across the floor to her office. He had a spectacular black eye starting to form over his right eye where Hermione assumed Harry had punched him. The sight sparked a warm feeling in her chest knowing that after all his beatings yesterday, there were still people who wanted to punch him.

"Eleanor, I think you should leave now. I don't want you getting in the middle of this."

"Do you think it's wise for me to leave, Hermione? He looks ready to blow up and I don't want to leave you alone."

"Please, I'm Hermione Granger." At this Eleanor laughed out loud and swept down the hall. Hermione turned back around and opened up her office. She most certainly did not want to have it out with Ron in the middle of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement third floor. As soon as she turned around again, Ron started bellowing.

"Hermione Granger, don't you dare turn away from me!" She just rolled her eyes and retreated into her office waiting for Ron to enter so that she could put up a silencing charm. Though she knew, that this would probably give Ron the impression that she wanted to talk to him, her urge to not fuel the rumour mill was greater than her urge to kick Ron's arse. At the moment at least. As soon as she shut the door and cast the charm, Ron exploded.

"HOW DARE YOU HERMIONE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH LAST NIGHT BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR BABBLING TO GINNY? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!

He stopped as if to give her a moment to apologize and beg for forgiveness, again, but Hermione was having none of that.

"Ronald, if you're looking for an apology, I would think that my gift last night would have told you that I'm not apologizing for anything. And I'd appreciate if you got the hell out of my office and my life." There. Succinct and to the point. There was no need to draw this out further than it needed to be.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A WAY!" At this Hermione rolled her eyes. Not allowed? What was he, the king and she his loyal subject or something?

"AND HOW COULD YOU BURN MY THINGS? THOSE ARE NOT YOURS TO TOUCH AND I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR EVERYTHING, MARK MY WORDS! YOU TURNED EVERYONE AGAINST ME WITH YOUR LIES! MY OWN MOTHER HATES ME AND MY SISTER AND MY BEST FRIEND WANT TO KILL ME AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!" What was he going to do? Hermione didn't know how the bumbling idiot had even passed auror training and here he was threatening the brightest witch of their age? He must have a death wish.

"I AM HAPPY THAT I AM FINALLY RID OF YOU, YOU PRUDE! I FINALLY HAVE A GIRL WHO ACTUALLY ENJOYS MY COMPANY AND MY TOUCH AND I NO LONGER HAVE TO WASTE MY TIME WITH YOU! YOU'RE MORE STUCK UP THAN PANSY PARKINSON SOMETIMES! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO HIGH AND MIGHTY BUT YOU'RE JUST A STUPID BOOKWORM WHO WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH SEXINESS IF IT CAME KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR. LAVENDER IS FIVE TIMES THE WOMAN THAT YOU'LL EVER BE!"

He was still going! It was just like Ginny had said, if Ron thought that Lavender was more womanly than Hermione than he must really be blind. But Eleanor's words suddenly popped into her head – she deserved to be treated to a lovely meal with a gentleman. If Ron could not see far enough to notice her charm, then she would just have to go looking somewhere else. And for heaven's sake, she wanted to be treated to a nice meal! She couldn't even remember the last time that Ron had taken her out to dinner. Plus, his atrocious manners had probably made the whole affair less than enjoyable. Resolved to accept Eleanor's offer, she turned her attention back to Ron who was still spouting out obscenities about her.

"Ronald, I thought I told you to get the hell out of my office," Hermione opened her office door and pointing with her arm to show him the way out. "Oh, and have fun with the slag. I'm sure that whore is much more worth your time." Hermione smirked as she saw Ron growing in outrage.

"DON'T YOU INSULT MY GIRLFRIEND LIKE THAT! SHE IS WORTH MUCH MORE THAN YOU! NO WONDER NO ONE LIKES YOU, WHO WOULD WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH SUCH A BITCH?"

At this Hermione's gut clenched painfully. It seemed that their relationship meant so little to Ron that he was already calling his mistress, his girlfriend. Maybe she had been just the cover girlfriend? The one that made him look good to the outside eye and kept up his appearances while his true loyalties lay between Lavender Brown's legs? That was a comforting thought. But she had no tears left for Ronald Weasley. If that was all that her relationship had amounted to then so be it. She looked at Ron and waved her wand to glue his lips together. She had had enough of his hurtful words and enough of him. She pointed to the door again and motioned for him to go through. Ron stayed resolutely in the same spot staring daggers at her.

"Ronald, I have no hesitation in cursing you out of my office if you don't move in the next thirty seconds. Get the fuck out of my life." She supposed it was the use of words that broke her resolve as he suddenly looked fearful and all but ran away. Hermione never cursed so she assumed that she sounded quite scary and serious when she did. And that was the first time that she had actually used the f-word. Wasn't it wonderful that her own ex-boyfriend inspired such reactions in her? She marched over to Eleanor's desk and breathlessly told her that she fully accepted her earlier offer. The girl's face lit up immediately.

"Oh how wonderful! I'll owl him immediately and tell him of your response. He said that he will be waiting for you at table number 5 at _De Chance_ at 7 tonight."

_De Chance_? Well the guy must have money at least. _De Chance_ was the newly opened French restaurant in downtown muggle London and was supposed to be the epitome of class. Hermione guessed that her mystery date was also a muggle-born as he knew of restaurants in muggle London. Though if someone tried, it wouldn't be too hard to find information about muggle restaurants even if one wasn't muggle-born.

She thanked Eleanor and returned to her office to finally get started on all her work. After this mornings episodes, she was more than ready for some peace and quiet provided her work. However, after the first hour or so of work, the day just started to drag on. One of Hermione's co-workers had come to vent about something or other and she had gotten a rather large stack of mindless paperwork to go through from another client. By the time 4:30 rolled around signalling the end of the work day, she all but jumped out of her seat, ready to go home.

Hermione had never in her short existence put in as much effort into her appearance as she did getting ready for her blind date tonight. She spent an hour soaking in her bathtub, using some of the scented oils from The Body Shop, and another half an hour standing in front of wardrobe in just her towel trying to figure out what to wear. Hermione finally settled on a body hugging red dress that ended mid thigh, with medium width straps and a fair neckline. It was the type of dress that Ginny loved to wear and Hermione usually shied away from. However, for the last two days her inner voice had started to sound a lot like Ginny, so she took the plunge and tugged the red dress on.

Hermione had to admit that it look bloody gorgeous on her. It hugged her in all the right places and accentuated her bust and neck line and made her legs look miles long. She hoped that her date would appreciate it. It took Hermione another forty minutes to tame and decide what to do with her hair which she ended up just wearing down letting the soft curls tumble down her back. A few touches of makeup and a splash of perfume was all it took so she slipped on a pair of red Jimmy Choos and hailed a cab to take her to _De Chance_ and her mystery date.

As the cabby pulled up to the restaurant, she noticed that there seemed to be a few guests climbing out of limousines to enter the restaurant. High class indeed. Hermione thanked the cab driver leaving a generous tip and started walking up the steps to the door of the bustling restaurant, inwardly hoping that she wasn't too underdressed for the usual clientele.

The server at the entrance took her jacket and directed her to table number 5. As she walked closer, Hermione noticed the white blond hair peeking out of the booth and audibly gasped as her date turned towards her and she recognized the gentleman as none other than Draco Malfoy.


	5. Chapter 5

Her mystery date was none other than Draco Malfoy. Draco-fucking-Malfoy. What had the world come to? Oh this was such a bad idea, such a, such a bad idea. What was she thinking? She had just lost her boyfriend two days ago. When did she become the type of girl who dropped and picked up guys right and left? She had to leave, now. Hermione turned towards the door and started to walk towards it when she heard Malfoy's voice.

"Granger, Gra – Hermione wait! Wait, please!" What the bloody hell. Draco Malfoy had called her Hermione and said please in the same bloody sentence. And he even sounded sincere. No, wait, scratch that. She must have misheard. There was no way that she had just heard Draco Malfoy asking her, Hermione Granger to please wait. There must be some mistake. But he sounded so unlike himself! Maybe there was another Draco Malfoy from America or something that happened to look like an exact clone of the Draco Malfoy that she had known all her life. Ya, that must be it. There was absolutely no other logical explanation for it.

"Hermione, please, please, wait!" He said it again! The universe must have seriously fallen apart in the two minutes that she was standing there. But she was a Gryffindor and weirdness aside, she should have the courage to deal with this situation.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione deliberately used his last name to show him that he wasn't going to fool her or sway her by using her first name.

"Hermione, please. I want to apologize to you for everything I've said and done to you over the years that we've known each other. And what my family's done to you. I've had a long time to think about things since we left Hogwarts and I want to tell you that I've changed. And I apologize profusely."

He must be joking. The world MUST be playing a cruel joke on her because there was no way this could actually be happening. Draco Malfoy, was fucking apologizing to her. With a sincere look on his face no less. She must be dreaming. There we go, she was dreaming! Hermione quickly pinched herself to wake her up from this ridiculous dream.

"What on earth did you do that, for?" Malfoy quickly asked, looking thoroughly puzzled.

"To wake myself up," Hermione quickly explained. "You were apologizing, so I figured I must be dreaming and I pinched myself to wake up. But you're still here." At this, Malfoy actually threw back his head and laughed. Hermione could not for the life of her remember if she had ever seen Malfoy laugh. Sure he had smirked and mirthlessly chuckled at them a few times during their school days, but real laughter? That was a sight she had not seen before.

"Yes, Hermione, I am still here." Again with the god damn first name! "And no, you are not dreaming – I did apologize. I apologized because I realized how much of a git I was to you during our school years and I feel completely ashamed."

Ashamed. Malfoy felt ashamed for treating her badly during their school years. Well that was something that she NEVER thought she'd hear. Oh this evening was just getting better and better, wasn't it?

"Hermione, I know we have had our differences … actually differences is a pretty tame word to describe what we've shared." Hermione smirked at that. Differences sounded like such a mild and well-tempered term when compared to their relationship. "I know that we have not even remotely gotten along but I am hoping that you'll find small space in that seemingly bottomless heart of yours to give me a chance."

Wait, what? Seemingly bottomless heart of mine? When did Malfoy become such a romantic? She looked up at him questioningly and he just stared right back, his eyes imploring her to listen to what he had to say.

"The war ended almost two years ago and we are no longer scared seventeen year old children fighting against dark evil forces and trying to survive. We both made choices and now we have to live with the consequences. What happened is over and done, we are both nearing twenty years old and I believe that it would be a shame if we continued to act as though we have reverted back to our thirteen year old selves," Malfoy stated firmly.

There must have been a million different thoughts running through my head at his words. When the bloody hell did he get so mature? And sensible, if I might add? But he was Draco Malfoy! He had made her life an absolute living hell for years! How could she just completely forget those endless streams of taunts that he had so graciously directed at her? The insults, derogatory terms, and the death threats? His family, his aunt? Merlin, she could never forget his aunt could I?

After a moment of pointless emotional rambling, her analytical brain finally kicked into high gear – Malfoy hadn't asked me to forget, had he? No, he hadn't asked her to forget everything that had happened, or to forgive him, or anything of the sort. He had simply asked for a second chance. And really. Hadn't she been pestering Ronald for months to finally grow up and move beyond the past? Hermione had yelled at him over and over again for being so completely childish and refusing to let go of past feelings.

She had been so mad at him for refusing to accept Ginny's acquaintance with Astoria Greengrass, a former Slythering who worked for the Holyhead Harpies management team, for still calling darling Luna, Loony Lovegood behind her back, and for still poking fun at his brother Percy for being a 'stuck-up bookworm, prat' after everything that Percy had done for George. She had called him all sorts of idiot, and made it out as though she were above all of that. That she was moving forward and trying to be a better person. Yet here she was, thinking about turning away from an obviously refined Draco Malfoy just because he had taunted her throughout school.

He was completely right – we weren't at school anymore and we weren't thirteen years old. So he called Hermione mudblood for six years of her life. Many other people had called her that name and she had somehow learnt to ignore it. And he had not called her a mudblood tonight. He had asked for a second chance based on his actions in the past five minutes, and Malfoy had been nothing less than a perfect gentleman. Before she could stop myself, the words tumbled out of her mouth.

"When did you learn to be a gentleman?" Malfoy just threw back his head and laughed heartily again. Without realizing it, I immediately grinned at the sight. It looked completely truthful and seeing that she had triggered such an unfamiliar reaction in him was quite heart-warming.

"Luckily for me, my mother was able to give me a refresher after I came to my senses. It's remarkable how much differently people treat you when you exhibit some semblance of manners."

And he could joke too! A honest to goodness joke without any malice or ego. She laughed right back at his words and he immediately grinned. Malfoy was right, he had changed. And Hermione would be such a hypocrite if she didn't take all the factors into consideration. Malfoy had apologized and seeing as she had never heard him say the words before, they had to be rare occurrences and therefore mean a lot. And that made my mind up for me.

"You know what, Malfoy? You're right and I think we should move on. We are not thirteen years old anymore. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance and I know you never got one from me," I said and smiled a little to reassure him.

He let out a quick breath and full out smiled at me. Inwardly, I marvelled at how much that simple action changed his whole demeanour. He no longer looked cold and aloof but so much more approachable. And Hermione had to admit that the approachable look completely suited him.

"I was hoping you'd say that. I fervently wished that someone with actual brains showed up tonight so that I could have an intelligent conversation and then you showed up!"

Hermione laughed at that again. When had he grown a sense of humour?

"Plus," Malfoy smirked. "It would a shame to see such a gorgeous dress go to waste." Well, it looked like compliments certainly didn't come hard to him. But she had to admit, that hearing lines like that really did make her feel nice. Ron had always failed to compliment her in anything and would have probably said something along the lines of 'glad to see you finally looking appropriate' which was effectively just a thinly veiled insult to her person.

"Would you like to join me for dinner, Hermione?" Malfoy asked gallantly, holding out his hand to her. The flattery just keeps coming with Draco, doesn't it? Ronald had never actually asked her to dinner after the first two or three dates that they went on. And he had never gallantly invited her to join him in anything either. His, invites if one could even call them that, were usually along the lines of 'I'm hungry, let's go eat.' No flattery, no gallantry, and absolutely no emotion. After what he had told her earlier that day, Hermione now figured that Ronald's point of view was such that since she was already lucky enough to stand by his side, flattery and chivalry were not required and therefore a colossal waste of time. But like she had thought earlier, it was a good feeling to be noticed and complimented.

She let out a very un-Hermione like giggle at the over-the-top of it all and slipped her hand into Malfoy's larger one. Surprisingly, his hand was quite warm and softer than she could have imagined. She had always thought that he would be cold to the touch – the aura that he used to give off had been so repulsing that Hermione had always presumed him to be completely cold. But his larger hand encompassed her smaller one entirely and placing her hand in the crook of his elbow, he led her back to the table that he had been sitting at before.

Hadn't she just been complaining some two days ago about how much she missed innocent physical contact with Ronald? Hadn't she been moaning to herself about how much she wished to hold her arm in the crook of someone's elbow like her father had showed her so many years ago? And here she was, at _De Chance,_ in a ridiculous dress and very high heels, with Draco Malfoy making all of her dreams come true. The world really was a ridiculous place. But even she had to admit that the feeling was quite nice.

As soon as they sat down, Malfoy started off the conversation again.

"Uh, you look stunning, Hermione. I hope you know that." He smiled sheepishly at her and she couldn't fight the urge to grin. This whole evening of flattery was doing wonders to her ego.

"I was also hoping that we could call each other by our first names? In my opinion, it would be a good first step in turning over a new leaf."

"Sure, Draco. Thanks for the compliment. Can I ask you a question?" I was desperate to know what had caused the changed in him. How can one person undergo such a drastic change? It's like Malfoy, no Draco, underwent a personality switch – from utter bastard to someone she could see herself liking very much.

"Of course you can, Hermione."

Draco looked at her expectantly. She still could not believe all of the facial expressions that passed across Draco's face. She had always seen him so impassive that genuine emotions were still shocking to see on his pale face.

"What happened to Draco Malfoy?" Hermione hoped beyond anything that she didn't offend him with the question. She quite liked the new Draco Malfoy. But more likely, she was just insanely curious. She was Hermione Granger of course. Knowledge was part of her DNA.

To her utter relief, he just laughed again. Merlin he was doing that a lot. "You mean, what happened to the cruel, egotistical, heartless, bigot from Hogwarts?" She nodded primly. "I forced him to take a permanent vacation to an uninhabited island. To never be seen again."

"When did you get a sense of humour, too?" Oh Merlin, that was not supposed to come out.

"Ah, yes. Well my sense of humour seemed to magically reinstate itself once I sent off my craptastic alter-ego. I meant what I said earlier, Hermione. I promise that I'm not that same egotistic teenager who was so focused on all the wrong things."

"Personally, I think that is the best idea that you've made, Draco. I much rather like this new you." I replied smiling slightly.

"Why, thank you," Draco stated.

"So how do you know Eleanor?"

"Oh." Did he suddenly sound extremely nervous or was that just me? "Well, this is going to complete ruin the 'I'm not egotistical anymore' speech that I just gave you, but uh… we met at a ministry lunch-in three months ago and she was the only woman who umm, didn't, uh, come on to me," Draco sputtered.

"Merlin, that totally did ruin the whole 'I'm not egotistical anymore' speech. What do you mean though?" She smiled so that he was assured that she was just teasing him.

"Well, might as well get this whole bloody thing out of the way I suppose. When we were introduced by one of my co-workers, the first thing she said to me was, and I quote, 'I have a boyfriend and am completely uninterested Mr. Malfoy.' As you can imagine, it took me quite by surprise as no one had ever been that frank upon meeting me before. It was a refreshing change from the usual female attention that I get so after assuring her that I would not try to woo her, she and I started talking and quickly became friends, I guess you could say. She is one of my very few."

He sat back and eyed me to see how I would take his little revelation. Honestly, he did sound extremely egotistical. And if he hadn't seemed so nervous about revealing the whole story to her, Hermione would have probably assumed that he was a stuck-up ego maniac who just loved the attention. However, if that were the case, becoming friends with a woman who treated him like that would not quite fit the profile.

"Usual female attention, Draco?" Hermione asked evenly, raising an eyebrow at him.

Draco groaned. "Merlin, I knew you would pick up on that! I must say, however, that I am completely entitled to that remark and it's not in the way that you think! The story is that I asked a nice looking witch out for lunch a few months ago and during the course of the meal she somehow managed to slip a love potion into my drink without me noticing. Thank goodness that Blaise happened to be in the same place for lunch because he noticed me start to act all lovey dovey, and since I'm not usually so expressive he escorted me out and found me an antidote…"

Well that was completely unexpected. I guess he was justified to be nervous about female attention after. She cut off her train of thought to focus on what Draco was saying next.

"Anyways, apparently, the witch was so keen on becoming the next Lady Malfoy that she couldn't even wait until the end of the first date to resort to underhanded tactics," Draco stated dryly.

"How very Slytherin of her." Hermione smirked at him.

"Well, yes I suppose but love potions are kind of low even for Slytherins, Hermione," he remarked slowly. "We snakes pride ourselves on cunning and resourcefulness and slipping someone a love potion entails neither."

"Oh come on, Draco. Finding a way to give someone a love potion must take a bit of cunning and resourcefulness."

"I disagree. The act mostly depends on finding the precise moment to have the person injest the potion – it really does not require much cunning and skill. The Slytherin way would be to seduce that someone and win affection without any potions helping you do so. That, dearest Hermione, is the Slytherin way," Draco finished grinning.

"And how exactly does Eleanor fit into all of this?"

"Oh, right, getting off topic. Well, as you understand now, I did not endeavour to ask anyone else to lunch after that particular fiasco and since I was admittedly quite lonely, I asked Eleanor if she might be able to set me up with someone. I figured since it was probably going to be someone she knew, I could breathe easier knowing that there would be no more psychopaths on my horizon. Instead, the girl that Eleanor set me up with was even worse than the first!"

Draco was getting quite animated now, and Hermione only wondered about what could come next in the story. The whole thing was just completely bizarre! She could not, for the life of her, imagine Draco and Eleanor being friends. Or Draco getting upset at female attention. But first things first, Draco and Eleanor were complete opposites! Eleanor was the typical sunshine personality, one who was always flitting about and talking and tittering to everyone. Admittedly, Draco was a lot more expressive than he used to be but he was stone faced compared to someone like Eleanor. And the fact that he had asked her for help! About women no less!

The Draco Malfoy she knew would have rather died than ask someone for help. He would have rather died than apologized to Hermione Granger as well, she supposed and yet he had done that as soon as he saw her tonight. Hermione had to admit that Draco really had turned it around. Now that she thought about it though, she had never really seen him with any other girl than Pansy at Hogwarts. Sure, they were always around him and he sure boasted and flirted with many but the only girl ever hanging off his arm, however bored he looked with her, was Pansy. Guess he wasn't as much off a player as she had previously thought. That seemed to be a growing theme this night, things that Hermione Granger previously held as true that were no longer so.

Her curiosity was peaked though, how could this girl be any worse than the one who slipped him a love potion? "How was this girl any worse than the previous one?"

"First off, she came to the restaurant wearing the most overbearing perfume that I had ever smelt! And it wasn't even nice to begin with! She smelt like wilting flowers mixed with spices and some dung thrown in to finish the deal off," Draco visibly bristled with every word he spoke. "And then, before I even had the chance to introduce myself, she started talking about how she was perfect wife material and that she couldn't wait to use all of my wealth for all her ideas that she planned about our life together. What a crackpot!"

"Crackpot indeed!" Honestly, why do women do that? Subject themselves to complete and utter humiliation over a man. Didn't she realize that her actions just screamed 'Hello, I'm desperate!' to everyone around her?

"I wonder why Eleanor picked someone like that? She usually has quite good judgement."

"Honestly Hermione, I wondered the exact same thing. Obviously I didn't ask for another date set up but she begged me to give her another chance to redeem herself so I acquiesced and here we are! I should tell you that I am infinitely more pleased with this date set up than I was with the last one." Draco smiled at me again and I realized that I quite enjoyed the sight. It was such a refreshing change to see. I found myself telling him that he should smile more before I could stop my babbling mouth. Dear god, I was so pathetic. Wasn't I just talking about disliking women who reduced themselves to humiliation in front of men? And here I was telling him that I liked his smile. Pathetic.

Luckily, Draco just took it in stride and smiled even bigger.

"Putting aside all your unfortunate romantic endeavours for the moment Draco, I wanted to ask where you work? I mean, you told me that you work in the ministry but I don't actually know what you do."

"I work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation actually."

Him working for international magical cooperation seemed quite unlikely. Hermione scolded herself internally for that thought – 'He's changed! He's changed!' she kept mentally telling herself. Just because Draco had once been branded as a Death Eater doesn't mean that he still held his father's elitist beliefs and did not want to work towards magical cooperation. That had been an absolutely childish thought. Still, the idea of him working in that department was quite intriguing.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to work in that department?"

"Originally, I was only hired to put up a good image for the ministry, myself being a reformed Death Eater and all that." The matter of fact way in which he stated this did not sit well with Hermione – would Kingsley really do something like that? She didn't like to think that the ministry was still not being run in the ideal way. "However, once I'd been working for a few months, they realized, I think, that I was actually good at my job and was an asset to the department and not there just for appearances sake. So then I got to do actual work," Draco finished happily. It was clear that he loved his work.

"What do you mean, 'do actual work?"

"Well, whereas before I would go on trips just because, now I get to prepare much of the documentation and accompany my boss on international trips because I know a few languages and he considers me an asset."

"Ooh, I've always wanted to learn languages! Which can you speak?"

"German, Spanish, French, and Italian," Draco stated. Wow. He knows four languages. She hadn't even had the time to learn one language, let alone four. It certainly looked like there was someone else, other than her, who had a penchant for learning. Take the Ronald Weasley.

"Four languages? Wow, Draco, that is quite impressive," Hermione quietly said. More like fucking amazing is what it was.

He grinned again. "Thanks, Hermione. That means a lot coming from you. Do you still work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?"

"Yes, I do."

"I read the proposal that you wrote for the reform of one of the many old pro-pureblood laws. I thought it was extremely well researched and the points that you raised I found to be very logical. I'm looking forward to hear what the Wizengamot have to say about it," Draco informed Hermione.

He had read her proposal. Draco Malfoy had read her proposal! Hermione could not put into coherent words how exactly that made her feel. Out of all the people that she knew, Draco Malfoy was the only one who had actually read her proposal. Everyone else had just told her a quick congratulations on getting her ideas 'out there' and left it that. She had left a copy of it for Ron but he hadn't touched it at all. But Draco Malfoy had read it. And agreed with her points. She was back to thinking that the world might officially be off it's axis.

"You read my proposal, Draco?" Hermione asked, unbelieving.

Draco just looked perplexed. "Of course, Hermione. I was very excited to hear what you would have to say and what changes you would propose to a law like that."

She just stared at him for a moment. Was the universe or the God that her grandmother believed in playing some kind of mean trick on her? Was she the only one who found it insanely ironic, that Draco, who came from the most elitist family that she could think of, was the only person who seemed to truly be interested in her work on overturning pro-pure-blood laws? The thought almost made her laugh.

"Oh. Tha, uh, thank you, Draco. That was very kind of you." Now I was the one stammering.

He smiled at her again. "My pleasure, Hermione."

They spent the rest of the evening talking about many different topics and for once Hermione was completely satisfied with the conversation. He could keep up with her and the conversation never stalled or got dull. He kept time with her wit and she was finally able to exchange words without restraining herself from talking about specific topics that interested her. She was wholly enthralled and though it was getting quite late, Hermione couldn't bear to leave. She wondered as to why they had never tried this before – the two of them seemed to work beautifully together, complimenting each other in just the right way.

Draco provided everything that Hermione had tried so desperately to find in Ron. He was intelligent, at ease, and fully in control. She had always hated how Ron couldn't carry himself in any situation, how he always seemed to stand on end at the smallest word or hand gesture. It was bloody infuriating! Often times, it had been impossible to even talk to him as one would to another person. He either got enraged over the smallest thing, or would just get thoroughly disinterested after two minutes.

And it had never failed to irritate her how he couldn't deal with most situations. Ronald was often unable to scope out and comprehend many circumstances which therefore led to things escalating and getting quickly out of control.

But Draco was so completely different. He was always at ease, always composed – she felt calm with him, not harried like she always felt after dealing with Ronald. And for as much as she outright lobbied for female independence, Hermione loved the fact that Draco was assertive. Insecurity was never a good feature on a man and Draco was commanded control without being overpowering. He didn't make her feel inferior, in fact, he just made himself seem more manly.

And it didn't hurt that he was simply gorgeous. She wasn't vain enough to judge on physical attributes alone but the man in front of her was one perfectly fine specimen. He was wearing black slacks and a simple dark grey button down shirt that accentuated his eyes. And his hair seemed darker than before – a bit closer to honey blond than the startling white blond that his family was so known for. Hermione could make out his defined chest even through his dress shirt and marvelled inwardly at his sculpted arm muscles.

Oh she was being ridiculous. They soon seemed to both realize how late it was and Draco quickly paid the cheque – Hermione didn't even bother protesting like she always had with Ronald. He had asked her out on date and besides, he was one of the richest wizards in Britain, she could take advantage of that for one night.

Ever the gallant one, Draco insisted on accompanying Hermione home and walked her all the way to her flat's door from the corner where the cab had dropped them off. She was suddenly nervous, did he perhaps expect a kiss or something before he left? Not that she didn't want to kiss him, but she admittedly had little experience in dating gentlemen.

Draco promptly solved the dilemma for her by leaning into her and kissing her softly on the cheek before moving to her ear and whispering nervously,

"You smell divine, Hermione." The breathless way in which he said the whole sentence and the delicious way that her name sounded on his lips had Hermione blushing as red as her dress.

Hoping that Draco hadn't noticed too much in the dim corridor, she summoned all her inner Gryffindor courage and leant in to kiss his cheek as well.

"Goodnight, Draco," she stated breathlessly.

"Goodnight, Hermione." Draco flashed her one last smile as she let herself into her flat and closed the door behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Arriving at work the next morning, Hermione could tell that something wasn't right. As soon as she had stepped into the atrium, everyone around had started giving her sidelong glances and peculiar looks. Merlin, what was everyone's problem today? She hardly doubted that the little black dress she was wearing was the object of such attention and many a scornful look.

As soon as she walked up to the front desk of the law enforcement office, Pauline looked up and gave her a sly grin that simply boded of bad things to come.

"So, Miss Granger, did you have a lovely night last night?" Pauline asked with a smirk. Hermione just gave her a confused look. What was that bloody infuriating woman going on about now?

"Was your night quite satisfying?"

"Excuse me?" The hell? She had no idea what Pauline was going on about. She couldn't possibly know anything about her dinner date with Draco … could she?

Pauline sneered at her before replying. "I was just wondering whether your extra-curricular activities were, let's say, satisfactory?" The woman really needed to learn some class. Who did she think she was to talk to her like that?

"Like I've said many times before, Pauline, my personal life is none of your business," Hermione stated coldly. The woman MUST know something though. Usually her barbs and implied insults were completely unsubstantiated and only meant to taunt, but today's phrases had seemed more direct. Maybe it was just her. Probably just her. Pauline was always making up stories so what would make today any different?

But as the brightest witch of her age, Hermione didn't miss the influx of stares that she seemed to be getting in her own department. And it wasn't just blatant staring – many of the pairs of eyes watching her seemed to be narrowed in disgust and a few people were even shaking their heads at her with confused looks on their faces. What the heck was with everyone today?

Deciding to just keep her head down, Hermione almost ran to her office closing the door behind her. Almost as soon as she sat down in her own personal sanctuary however, the door burst and Eleanor rushed in looking quite harried.

"Hermione, oh thank goodness I found you! I really, really need to show you something!"

"Hey, Eleanor, relax. Take a breath and tell me what's going on." Wordlessly, Eleanor just held up what Hermione assumed to be the newest copy of Witch Weekly. And on the front cover, under a gigantic headline of _Reformed Love?_ was a picture of herself, being led out of _De Chance_ by Draco Malfoy.

Hermione swore. Great. Just fucking great. No wonder everyone was looking at her today! How the hell did this even happen?! She thought she'd made sure that there hadn't been any photographers near where they were walking. And it was no help that she looked positively enamoured with Draco in the picture – he had one hand on the small of her back as they walked down the stairs and she had turned around to face him with a beaming smile on her face and puppy dog look in her eyes. Just fucking great.

Oh, she should have known that this would happen. The whole thing was such a bad idea. How could she have actually imagined, for one minute, that she could have one evening in peace? She was Hermione Granger after all and she had become almost as famous as Britney Spears in the wizarding world.

This whole debacle was just fantastic. What would everyone think of her? Correction, what did everyone already think of her? That Hermione was probably some harlot or scarlet woman who went gallivanting with former death eaters while still being in a relationship. Oh dearest lord, what a nightmare. Hermione could feel her head begin to throb with an oncoming headache at the thought.

She went to grab the magazine from Eleanor and flipped to the second page (which apparently meant that she was prime gossip news) to read the full story.

_Reformed Love? _

_Written by: Anonymous_

_Just last night, muggleborn heroine Hermione Granger was spotted leaving the newly opened muggle restaurant De Chance with death-eater Draco Malfoy. Though only open for a short period of time, De Chance, has become known as a private, upscale restaurant, priding itself on its discreteness with clientele and fantastic cuisine. This discreteness is evidently the reason for the selection of De Chance for Granger's and Malfoy's late night rendezvous. Hermione Granger is known to have been in a long-term relationship with war hero Ron Weasley, a long-standing friend of hers, while Draco Malfoy is recognized as quite a playboy, having been with many a witch. Is this the beginning of the end for the Golden Couple? Or will Hermione Granger swallow her pride and beg for her loyal friend to take her back? Surely, one can never be too sure of people who choose to be in the company of acknowledged death eaters. Perhaps Miss Granger has grown tired of her relationship with the brave Gryffindor and decided to escapade to more dangerous men? One thing is for certain, this development is one to keep an eye on! _

Hermione could feel herself cackling with every continuing line of the article. What the hell was this? The article, or piece of shite rather, that was in front of her made her out to look like a total slag! Cheating on the 'brave and loyal Gryffindor' to move on to 'escapades with more dangerous men?' And who even uses language like 'late-night rendezvous' even more? Not only did the shite label her a slag, but it made Draco out to be a total womanizer, which after what he had told her yesterday, he most obviously was not. So not only was she a slag and Draco basically a man-whore, the only person who came out even remotely well in the article was Ron. And then, it clicked.

The whole piece was basically a love letter to Ronald and Hermione had a suspicion of who wrote the damn thing. Lavender Brown ring a bell? Only that woman would resort to such dirty tricks – there's no better way to make yourself look like less of a trollop than to show Hermione Granger out with Draco Malfoy before the whole wizarding community knows that her relationship with her long-standing boyfriend was over.

Hermione sank down into her chair from the utter exhaustion of her thoughts. What a complete, and utter mess. She had almost forgotten that Eleanor was still in the room until she heard a cheery voice.

"So Hermione, how was your date last night?" Only Eleanor would have the audacity to ask such a question after showing her that blasted magazine. But who was she kidding, the date had been fantastic – Hermione didn't even have the heart to be a little mad at Draco for making her look like that to the general public. He hadn't known what had happened between her and Ronald, and he was just being a gentleman.

"Eleanor, thank you for setting it up, I had a really good time. Draco was a wonderful companion," she said truthfully.

Eleanor's face promptly lit up. "He is, isn't he? I was a bit wary of him at first but he really is a great guy. I just knew that you were perfect for each other! So will you be seeing each other again?"

That was the million dollar question wasn't it? Hermione did honestly want to see Draco again, there was no point in lying to herself or anyone else about it. How could she not want to spend more time with someone who for the first time in her life, actually matched her own intellect and presented a challenging conversation?

"I do hope so. However, I do have to deal with this first," Hermione stated holding up the offending magazine.

"Oh please, Hermione," Eleanor scoffed. "Don't worry about that. Anyone who knows you would know that anything in that article is utter rubbish. No one in their right mind would actually think that you were a cheat – the thought is absurd! As if you would do that to someone!"

Eleanor was right, of course. Anyone who vaguely knew Hermione, knew that she didn't partake in despicable acts like that. So why was everyone staring at her as if it were all true?

"Let's say that what you're saying is true, Eleanor. Why is everyone staring?" Hermione looked up at her friend worriedly.

"Well, in my opinion, there are three reasons:

They are jealous – Don't you scoff at me Hermione Granger! Do you know how many women are dying, DYING, to go out with Draco Malfoy? No matter what that article states about him, or how bad everyone claims to think he is, there are plenty of women who would kill to be in your shoes.

They obviously don't know you very well – this kind of stuff does happen from time to time so it's immature to believe that it doesn't exist. What is immature, is to expect that kind of behaviour from you of all people.

They are stupid – I am serious Hermione! Only daft people would actually believe anything written in the gossip column of Witch Weekly."

"That very well may be, but you do realize that the people who believe gossip columns, funnily enough also happen to be the ones who are able to spread gossip faster than anyone? Like Pauline?"

At this, Eleanor full out laughed. "You, Hermione Granger, who saved the wizarding world, who has groups of reporters following her around all the time, and who is the focus of interest wherever she goes, are worried about gossip? Please tell me that you're joking."

She probably deserved that – she did sound utterly ridiculous. The press had not stopped hounding her since the day that old Voldy was defeated and Hermione didn't think that they'd abruptly stop, did she?

"You know what, you're perfectly right Eleanor. Who cares if everyone is giving me scandalous looks in the hallways? I know the truth and that is more than enough for me."

"Exactly right." And why should she be ashamed to be seen with Draco Malfoy? They were not children anymore, and he was no longer a death eater but a good person. She had as much right to be out with him as anyone else. The people who had been giving her scornful looks as she passed by knew next to nothing about her and Draco and had no right to judge.

A shout of 'Hermione!' from down the office floor brusquely cut off her train of thought. Eleanor leaned out the door to check what was going on and immediately groaned. "Not again!"

Hermione leaned over her to check the commotion and experienced a sense of déjà vu as she saw Ronald sprinting across the floor to her office. Just like yesterday, he looked ready to burst in anger. "Eleanor…"

"I am out of here, Hermione. You don't need to tell me twice." She bustled off as quickly as possible to try and outrun the wrath that was about to descend. Of course, this time around, Ronald had no qualms about getting into it with her in the middle of the office foor. He was still a few metres away from Hermione's door before his chest puffed up and he started yelling uncontrollably.

"YOU SLAG! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? HOW CAN YOU EAT DINNER WITH SUCH FILTH?" Ronald shoved the accusatory magazine under her nose before yelling again. "LOOK AT YOURSELF, DRESSING LIKE A WHORE FOR MALFOY! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS DOES TO MY REPUTATION? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? YO –"

Here however, Hermione cut him off with a silencing spell. She had had enough. Her magic swelled within in her as rage started bubbling inside the pit of her stomach. She pointed an accusing finger at Ronald's chest and spoke in a low, cold voice.

"Enough. Enough. I am sick of you coming to my office and belittling and berating me. I have done nothing wrong. I did nothing to you. Nothing! In fact, as I recall, you were the one who left me at home to shack up between Lavender Brown's legs! That fact alone should do wonders to your reputation Ronald."

Dimly, Hermione noticed the shocked expressions on the faces of her co-workers before she turned her attention back to her bastard of an ex in front of her.

"As for last night, since we were broken up when you chose to be with said slag, I have the right to have dinner with anyone that I please, and that includes Draco Malfoy. I have never whored myself out to anyone, nor do I plan on starting, and I most certainly do not look like one. Your current girlfriend is more than capable of claiming that title. Unless you want me to really hurt you, like you know I can, I suggest that you leave me alone Ronald and stop harassing me. Oh, and good luck trying to talk – I put a time component on the silencing spell."

With a sneer worthy of a Malfoy, Hermione turned around and calmly walked back to the office. Enough was enough, she would no longer stand for such behaviour. Just in case any of her co-workers missed the spectacle on the office floor, Hermione decided to write a note to pin on her door, outlining the consequences of mentioning that stupid article to her. After a few rough drafts, she was finally please with the result:

_Please be informed, _

_Upon entering this office, any persons who mentions Witch Weekly or any article pertaining to myself will be hexed immediately and without hesitation. Thank you for your consideration, _

_Have a pleasant day. _

There. She hadn't put her hexing skills to good use recently.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Instinctively, Hermione should have known that she would not be left alone for the rest of the day. With a scoop like hers, there was hardly a chance that someone wouldn't come to ask her questions. And come they did.

The first through her door was Harry. He looked a bit apprehensive as he came into her office and kept glancing at her door as he made his way over to one of the chairs in front of her desk. Hermione just laughed.

"I'm not going to hex you Harry! Honestly." Harry just grinned sheepishly at her.

"Hi Hermione. I just came by to make sure that you were alright and to ask you a question." Always so concerned, Harry. Some would think it infuriating and suffocating but Hermione, and those closest to him, thought it sweet. He really couldn't help but be concerned for those he loved after everything that he'd been through in his short life.

"I'm fine, Harry. Really. I'm sure Ginny has told you that I'm okay after Ronald. And as for the question, ask away." She smiled sweetly at him so that he would lose his nerves. This however seemed to only agitate him more. Odd.

"Uh, well I was wondering if you're really sure about this whole… dating Malfoy thing."

"Dating Malfoy thing, Harry? Please, we went to dinner together once! We haven't established a relationship or anything yet."

"Phew, okay. I was also wondering… did you, uh, cheat on Ron with Malfoy?" Harry looked positively petrified. Yet even that didn't make Hermione flinch. How dare he?! After what Ronald had done to her, Harry actually had the courage to ask her a question like that? Well, he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.

"How dare you ask me that, Harry? After what Ron did to me?!" Harry visibly paled as soon as he heard her outburst and started violently shaking his head.

"Oh no Hermione! I didn't mean it like that at all! I only asked because, well, because I didn't want you to end up like him!" Well that was not what she had expected to hear at all.

"What do you mean, Harry?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Do you know how much I hate Ron right now Hermione for what he did to do? Do you know how much the sight of him repulses me? I haven't spoken to him since the day that I found out. I asked Kingsley to switch partners and everything. How could he do such a thing to you? You were supposed to be his best friend! Best friends do not treat each other in such ways. I never thought you would actually do such a thing Hermione – I only asked because if you had then that would mean that you were just as bad as he was and I just couldn't bear the thought. I fervently hoped that I would still have at least one of my best mates around," Harry finished obviously agitated.

How could Hermione have possibly doubted him? She knew, of course she knew, that Harry had only good intentions at heart. He always did.

"Oh Harry. I truly appreciate the thought and the sentiment, and no I did not cheat on Ronald with Draco. I had already broken up with Ron and my friend here in the office set me up on a blind date who just happened to be Draco," Hermione clarified to Harry.

He smirked at her in what was eerie similar to Draco's signature facial expression. "A blind date that turned out to be Malfoy? You must have been overjoyed, Mione."

"Oh dear, it really was a surprise Harry! I almost fell over when I saw him sitting at the table that I was supposed to meet my date at. And then I debated with myself over whether or not I should run away."

Harry doubled over laughing at her last statement. "Ha! I would have paid to see that Mione – watching Malfoy's date run out on him has got to be worth my entire Gringott's account."

Hermione harrumphed from his obvious enjoyment of her mental debate. "Well, fortunately for me, I decided not to run and Draco convinced me to stay."

"Draco is he now?" Harry quirked an eyebrow up at her again eerily reminding Hermione of Draco. "I guess that means that your date went well then?"

"It was wonderful! He was a perfect gentleman and was so interesting to talk to Harry!" She stopped her account of her date with Draco when she noticed that Harry had started to look uncomfortable again. "What is it Harry?"

"Well, uh, he didn't insult you or anything, did he? I know you said he was a gentleman, but I'm not sure what gentleman actually means to Malfoy…" He backtracked almost immediately upon seeing the outraged look on Hermione's face. "Oh Hermione, no I didn't mean anything! Oh bugger this is going all wrong."

"You could say that, Harry. Do you not think I have good enough judgement to determine whether or not Draco is worth spending time with? Or are you going to turn into Ronald and berate me for eating dinner with filth?" As much as she loved Harry and appreciated the brotherly concern, all the questions were really starting to get to her. What was the big fucking deal?

Hermione was taken aback however, when Harry's eyes turned ice cold. "Don't you dare compare me to that git, Hermione. I am nothing like him."

She was momentarily silenced at the depth of Harry's hurt and concern. Momentarily silenced and thoroughly ashamed. That really had been a low blow, hadn't it? "I am sorry, Harry. That was out of line. If it's any consolation, I didn't really mean it – it just came out."

"I know Hermione. It's just that I really don't want to be compared to someone like him. And before you ask, yes I do trust you to have enough good judgement to spend time with Malfoy. In all honesty, I've met him a few times around the ministry and he doesn't seem to be too bad," Harry quickly replied. "Anyways, I just wanted to check up on you. Now that I know that you're okay, I do have work to get back to."

"Alright Harry, thank you again for the concern. It's good to know that I have friends who will look out for me."

"Anytime, Mione. By the way, I really like the sign on your door." Hermione grinned and Harry, smirking again, walked out of her office to leave her to her work and her thoughts.

As it happened, Hermione barely had time to look at her work before Ginny came barrelling into her office, her face aflame with delight.

"Mione! Mione! Honestly, the nerve, hexing people? It's only an article! But tell me everything! How was your hot date last night? To be fair, I was a tad surprised to hear that you were on a date with Draco Malfoy of all people, but Harry reassured me that he was an alright guy now so that's okay. I saw he took you to _De Chance_ – I've been dying to eat there. All the reviews I've heard make the place sound scrumptious. But back to the good stuff! How was Malfoy? Was he absolutely divine? Looking at that Witch Weekly picture, he certainly looked divine..."

Hermione tuned out of Ginny's spectacular rant for a moment to marvel at the woman's ability to talk a mile a minute. Whoever at Hogwarts who had said that Hermione didn't know how to stop talking, had obviously never met a thoroughly excited Ginny Potter. The woman could out talk Lavender Brown and Parvarti Patil combined! Without being as obnoxiously annoying and bitchy of course.

Without missing a beat, Ginny continued, " … at first I was seriously concerned with what you were planning on wearing but then I saw you in red dress that you SWORE you'd never wear and I just knew it! I'm finally rubbing off on you! I am beyond ecstatic that you chose to wear it because you looked bloody fantastic! See, I told you!"

Hermione chuckled to herself, of course the focus point of the whole affair is her dress – she was talking to Ginny of course. But the girl did have a point. What was the purpose in showing up to a restaurant like _De Chance_ and not looking one's best? Finally answering Ginny, she acquiesced that the dress that girl picked out was fantastic and that she probably could not have picked anything better herself. The look on her best friend's face was that of a child being unrestrained access to a giant sweetshop and Hermione couldn't help but laugh out loud, feeling her slightly sour mood drifting away. It was quite impossible to feel down when in the presence of an excited Ginny Potter.

"But Hermione, you still haven't told me how the date was!" Ginny continued.

Oh dear, well here goes. She might as well appease the woman as it didn't seem that she would be leaving any time soon. Plus, it wasn't as if Hermione regularly gossiped about dates and guys with girlfriends so once in a while couldn't hurt, right?

"The date was fantastic, Ginny. No offence to your dear brother, but I've never been on such a date before. The restaurant was lovely, the food was delicious, and Draco was such a gentleman. I had a wonderful time."

"Mione, please don't include my git of a relative in this discussion. This was supposed to be a talk about lovely dinners and sexy men and look at you, ruining the whole thing!"

Talk about lovely dinners and sexy men? Only Ginny could get away with saying things like that. "Okay, I'm sorry. But Ginevra Potter! You are a married woman!"

"Oh pish posh! Just because I am married does not mean that I cannot appreciate when a man looks good. It's not like I'm planning on running away with him! You however, are refusing to talk about the enticing concept of sexy men so spill! How did he look? What was he wearing? Did he kiss you goodnight? I know you don't usually do the whole girl talk but I could care less, I want to know!

Man, was the woman insane? Hermione felt as if she was being accosted. "Okay, jeez! Calm down Ginny. You said something earlier about him looking divine? Well he did look divine. He wore black slacks and a dark green dress shirt that showed off his, uh, physique, really, really well. Yes, he gave me a good night kiss. On the cheek, I might add," Hermione stated with a pointed look at Ginny.

Although she knew that Ginny had long ago taken her side in her relationship with Ron, Hermione didn't want her to get any ideas. Although she loved her best friend unconditionally and knew that Ginny would never tell anyone anything, she was still part of the Weasley family and that was enough reason to tone down the romantic side of things. It appeared however, that the young witch before her had no such qualms as she promptly squealed and ran over to give Hermione a hug.

"See, what did I tell you Mione?! I always knew that you'd find someone for you eventually."

At this Hermione was flabbergasted. What could Ginny possibly mean, 'find someone eventually?' They had only been on one bloody date so far! It's not like the two of them were going steady or anything of the sort!

"Ginny, what on earth are you talking about? We've been on one date! One! Need I remind you how many one actually is?"

Ginny looked very affronted at this however. "Oh, there is no need to get snippy with me, Hermione. I am perfectly capable of understanding the amount and further meaning of having one date with a guy. You on the other hand, can be quite obtuse when it comes to such things as men and dating, as you were in love with my brother, who is so completely wrong for you, for many years. Now you listen to me and you listen well. One date may not mean much when it comes to some random stranger that you met. You and Draco Malfoy are not strangers though, and therefore do not need to engage in whatever ridiculous courting ritual that you seem to have in your head. Although he was a royal pain in the ass, you still went to school with him, and he is not a stranger. He's obviously changed now, and you might not know him very well but that does not mean that you need to date him for a couple of years, or worry about getting to know him well enough to take the next step. I realize that that may sound hypocritical as I waited for Harry for all these years, but I beg to differ. He is my soul mate and therefore it was worth the wait."

Without waiting for me to even catch a breath, Ginny continued. "Ron was never your soul mate and no one could even understand why you were so head over heels for him – he was not the right guy for you. I am sick and tired of watching you let life just roll you by because you do not have the guts to take matters into your own heads and get what you deserve. If you have just listened to me in the first place, you could have ended that ungodly relationship with Ron a long time ago, and been with someone who truly appreciated you. You seem to think that just because you knew Ron for so long, and it was "expected" of you to get together by goodness knows who, that you had to stay in the relationship and give it an honest shot as you once told me."

Hermione gaped at Ginny and gave her somewhat of a hurt look. Was she really that easy to read? Was it so blatantly obvious to everyone around what she was doing? But no, that was impossible. Hermione gave Ginny what she hoped to be an angry look to let her know how she felt about being accused on such things.

Ginny laughed at her before speaking again. "Hermione, don't give me that look. You're forgetting that I know you a right side better than anyone else does. Don't you even try denying that that's exactly what you were doing because you and I both know it's true. I cannot believe that someone as strong as you would actually be willing to be in such an unhealthy relationship for the sake of public opinion. Do you not realize how degrading that is to you? Ron obviously didn't care much for you after the first few months, and yet you stayed with him, instead of being happy to upkeep reputations. Then, after you finally started on your own way, comes Draco Malfoy, who from what you've told me treated you like a queen yesterday, and you're wondering about pursuing a relationship with the guy because you don't know him? You're not looking for a husband to marry in a week, it's just a date. And that attitude, Hermione Granger, is pathetic."

She was stunned. Stunned from the tip of her head to the bottom of her toes. How was it, that she had been stunned by so many people in such a few short days? This was why Ginny was her best friend. She did not know a single other person who would have had the guts to tell her what Ginny had just said – tell her exactly what she needed to hear. She couldn't even be angry at her, could she? Ginny had only pointed out what was obvious to anyone who new Hermione well enough. She had stayed in a relationship that was not working out, because she had not wanted to cause an uproar in the wizarding world. Merlin, she was pathetic.

And how was she to go on a second date with Draco if this is how she treated relationships? That kind of attitude would have just been a disaster waiting to happen.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I'm sorry for snapping at you, and I'm sorry for not listening to you. You were right about everything." Hermione hung her head to not have to look at Ginny. She hated feeling pathetic.

She was rewarded not with anger however, but with Ginny's motherly instincts taking over. "Mione, I'm sorry, that was harsh. It's just that I really want to see you happy, and I know you deserve better. I know you stayed with Ron because you are a noble person and have values and don't want to be labelled as one of those girls who dumps a guy because her life is not that of a princess. I know that and frankly I commend you for it. I would just hate for you to lose out on what perhaps can be a great opportunity with Malfoy because you're holding yourself back."

Stepping forward her best friend wrapped her arms around Hermione understanding without speaking that no more words needed to be exchanged on the topic. Sometimes, things were better off after a hug.

"How come you're so on board with the whole me going out on a date with Draco Malfoy thing?" She asked tentatively.

Ginny pursed her lips for a moment, seemingly trying to come up with the right words to say before responding. "Harry went on a trip with Kingsley a couple of months back and apparently Malfoy was there too. Harry said that at first, honouring tradition, they didn't speak or even look at each other , but Kingsely got so fed up with them that he chastised them for behaving like schoolboys and ordered them to make up or form a truce. I'm sure that knowing Harry, you wouldn't be surprised to hear that he was a bit wary at first but that all disappeared when Malfoy stuck out his hand and said 'I'm sorry'. On top of that, he said that the apology was extened to include Ginny and offered Harry congratulations on getting married. Who would have thought, eh? He didn't even call me she-weasel or any vile name that he came up with back in school. They aren't chums or anything, but whenever they do see each other, they exchange some form of pleasantries. I just figured that since the old Draco Malfoy would never have done anything like that, he must have changed."

"That's quite a coincidence Ginny, because that would be the exactly same thing that I thought, after he apologized to me – the old him would never have done that so he must have changed. But yes, the whole affair was rather enchanting. Ugh, I just wish that this whole business with Witch Weekly would just drop."

"Oh!" Ginny's face lit up again at the mention of the article. "I think that you would be happy to know that I am pretty certain as to who wrote that blasted article about you. I think it's – "

But Hermione cut her off, finishing the sentence for her friend. "Lavender Brown?" She queried?

"How did you know?"

Hermione smirked. "Process of elimination."

"Well, anyways," said Ginny laughing, "I'm pretty sure that any with two cents worth of brains would realize that it's a load of hog-wash so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"People are already looking at me as if I committed a crime so there's really not that much that I can do."

"Just give them the finger!" Ginny suddenly exclaimed. Hermione looked at her quizzically. "Well, Harry took me driving around the English countryside last month and let me drive on some back road, and this one guy that passed us gave me the finger! After Harry explained to me what it meant, I turned around to catch up to him again and gave him one right back!"

At this she had to laugh. Trust Ginny to drive back to catch someone just to show them the finger in retribution. Oh, no wonder Harry always said that he fell in love with her feistiness. Looking at her watch, Ginny quickly yelled that she had Harpies practice in less than twenty minutes and had to run. Giving Hermione a quick hug, she bolted out of the office faster than possible finally leaving her to her work.

At least, so she thought. Not twenty minutes later there was another knock on the door, and Hermione started wondering whether or not someone started a game – how many people can we get to come visit Hermione in one work day before she snaps?

Calling a quick come in, she noticed that the next through her door was Terry Boot, a former DA member who she had not talked to for a few weeks, but who worked with Harry and Ronald in the auror department. Well this should be an expected but sort of pleasant surprise, right? Back in school, Terry was known for being nice enough, if not quite stuck up at times.

Hello Terry, long time no see. What can I do for you?"

Terry only regarded her with a sickened look and spoke icily. "Hermione how could you?"

Affronted by the look that he was giving her and his cold tone of voice she asked, "What do you mean?"

"How could you go to dinner with a fucking death eater?! How could you sit there and talk with him without throwing up?"

Oh, here we go. The first two visitors that she had were old friends that were just concerned but this right here was why she had written that note. What on earth gave Terry Boot the right to come into her office and berate her about her personal affairs?

"Do you not remember what happened during the war? Do you not remember what we fought for and how much evil his family has caused? How could you do something like that?"

Here she was getting upset. How dare he?! Terry fucking Boot was lecturing her about the war. Her! Hermione Granger who helped Harry Potter bring about the end of Voldemort. Not that he did not play a part of course but come on! He was digging his grave – Hermione's hand was itching to get to her wand and hex his buttocks off.

Terry was not to be concerned it seemed. He went on and on about how she had let her morality slide and let her family and friends down. It was his next words however, that drove her to do exactly what the note on the door had said.

"Ron told me about you, you know. About how you told him he was stupid on a daily basis, and refused to have sex with him because he couldn't satisfy your needs. About how you made him cook for you and everything. And then you thank him by whoring yourself out to Draco Malfoy and cheating on him! Well, you must really love the limelight then if that's what your capable of. And Harry defended you! Merlin knows what you did to get him on your side. How could you treat someone who love you like that?!"

She was going to kill Ronald Weasley. That was the only thought going through her head at the moment. It was like a mantra, repeating and repeating itself, and adding fuel to the fire that raged within her. _Kill Ronald Weasley. Kill Ronald Weasley. Kill Ronald Weasley._ How dare he spread such lies about her to people that they knew? Was it not enough that probably the entire ministry thought her to be a slag? Must he poison the minds of everyone that she even remotely knew? And how had the imbecile in front of her fallen for that? He was supposed to be in Ravenclaw for Merlin's sake! And yet he had fallen for such a blatant lie. Believing her, Hermione Granger, the former biggest prude of all of Hogwarts, to have given Harry Potter sexual favours to defend her to Ronald Weasley. The world really was a convoluted place. She didn't even have the energy to try and put Terry in his place or explain anything to him. It would take to long to get into his pig-headed brain. How that boy ended up in Ravenclaw was beyond her.

"Get the hell out of my office, Terry."

"No. I refuse to let you treat your friends in such a way!"

Hermione bristled. "If you were my friend, you would have come to talk to me and not to berate me about a situation that you do not understand. Now get the hell out."

He huffed at her, turned up his nose, and started to leave before Hermione remembered that he had mentioned the Witch Weekly article and thoroughly deserved to be hexed. She sent a particularly nasty stinging hex at her backside and smirked, knowing that it would hurt for him to sit for the next week or so.

Nobody messed with Hermione Granger and got away with it.

Surprisingly, it was another two hours before anyone ventured another stab at visiting her office. By that time, she was so upset at the absurdity and injustice of the whole situation that she was pretty sure that she would hex the next person who walked in before they even got a chance to speak.

It was as if there was a mind reader attached to her door – no sooner had she finished the thought there was a knock and she yelled out before speaking, "If you do not wish to be hexed, I suggest that you leave immediately, I am in no mood for visitors."

Dimly she heard laughter from the other side of the door before a very familiar and deep voice call her name.

"It's Kingsley, please open up!"

Dear Merlin. She had yelled at and threatened to hex the bloody Minister of Magic. Well. This day was going fucking perfectly.

"Come in!"

In walked a laughing Kingsley followed by Draco Malfoy of all people, in a delectable grey muggle suit no less, with a smile on his face. Well apologies were in order first.

"Kingsley, Draco, Merlin, I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me, I've not been having the best of days."

Draco grinned but let Kingsley do the talking. "Well, I should expect not. If you like, I can have a chat with the manager of the magazine so that they will stop publication. It is preposterous to print such a thing about two ministry workers. Besides that though, I hope that the proposition that I have for both you and Mr. Malfoy will significantly brighten your day."

Now she was intrigued. Hermione motioned for the two men to sit, for once fervently wishing that her office were a little bigger before Kingsely spoke again.

"I am here to inform both of you that England has once again been chosen to host the Quidditch World Cup. The ministry has decided to not hold it in the same place as last time for obvious reasons, and in the past few years many problems at other Quidditch World Cups have arisen that need to be sorted out. Because of this, I have decided to put together a team to take care of and plan this whole situation. Seeing as Draco is one of my best in the department of international magical cooperation he had earned a spot on the team, and the other position I would like to offer to you Hermione. Because of the importance of this project, all your other work would be transferred to other employees, and you would be given a new workspace to work on this together."

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Hermione could not even believe half of what she had heard coming from Kingsley's mouth. Her and Draco picked for some top important planning project for the ministry? Planning an ENTIRE Quidditch World Cup? Just her and Draco? Well, she understood why Draco but her?

"Why me, Kingsley?"

He looked thoroughly surprised at the questions as if she should have already known the answer. "Why you? Well let's see. You are incredibly bright, a brilliant worker, eager and courageous enough to undertake new and difficult tasks, your boss gives you a glowing recommendation, and I just really like you. That should about cover it, no?"

Again, Hermione was speechless. She really didn't think Kingsley thought so highly of her.

"Why would I want some oaf who just wants a promotion to work on this when I can have you?" Kingsley asked her.

"Hey! I'm here too you know," Draco put in.

"And Draco too of course," Kingsley replied laughing. "So are you both up for it then? You'll need to find a location, hire builders, organize the stadium, make seating charts, and find a way to organize the people. I know it's a daunting list but I am sure that between you both, you can handle it."

Draco looked at Hermione and cocked his head to ask if she was up for it. At the same time, they both answered, yes!

Smiling at each other, they barely noticed Kingsley exclaiming 'Perfect!'

"The conference room on the third floor near my office, Draco you know which one, has been made available to you. I'll just leave you to it then!" Walking out, Kingsley left them sitting in her office with an intimidating task, and a new relationship.

Let the games begin, yes?


	8. Chapter 8

_Hello everyone! I am terribly, terribly sorry for not updating earlier, but I have been absolutely swamped with papers and assignments for classes. However, since I now have reading week, here is the new chapter! Chapter 9 should follow in a few days. Hope you all like it and continue reading!_

Chapter 8

Turning to look at Hermione, Draco smirked. "So it seems that I won't have to ask you on a second date to see you again, will I?"

As if on cue, Hermione's mind went a twitter – what on earth could he mean by such a statement? Did he not actually want to ask her on a second date? That's the only thing that he could possible mean, right?

Hermione stopped and mentally slapped herself. Again. How many times in these last couple of days had she gone on these useless mental tirades? She was supposed to be stronger than these damn constant insecurities that she was having.

She was Hermione fucking Granger, the brightest witch of her age. Surely she of all people could come up with a better reason for Draco's remark than what she had earlier thought of. Honestly, it's like her brain reverted back to that of a thirteen year old girl. She barely knew him! He probably wants to actually get to know her before they get swept away into one of those damn Cinderella romances always going on in her head. She was so fucking stupid.

Hermione's face must have betrayed her inner anguish and turmoil because Draco quickly backtracked and started sputtering and explaining himself.

"Merlin, no I didn't mean… not what I wanted to say… Hermione, it's not like… this is… I want to… fuck." Hermione smiled at his incomprehensible tirade all her anger seemingly forgotten. She almost didn't hear Draco muttering something under his breath about his suaveness getting lost when he needed it most and immediately giggled.

Draco heaved a great sigh and bringing his head up to look at her, started speaking coherently,

"Hermione, I did not mean it like that at all. It's just that I know that we have known each other for almost a decade but we don't really know each other. And as much as I would want to just fall headlong into this, because Merlin knows I really, really, do, I would also actually like to get to know you outside of fancy restaurants and romantic walks. I can surmise that this is probably not what you wanted to hear, however, since we did not get a chance to become friends earlier, I would like to get to know you much better just on a day to day basis. Please don't take that as a declaration of lack of intent from me because I want you to know that I would really like to see you again. Well, I mean I know I'll see you but, that's not really what I meant… and ya."

Exactly. He said exactly what she had just been thinking. They were lasted enemies through school and had talked to each other properly for the first time last night and he wanted to get to know her better. Again, she was so fucking stupid. She really needed to start using her brain more often before her apparent inner thirteen year old started to mess up her emotions even more.

Draco grinned at her awkwardly and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. He looked at her quizzically for a moment and Hermione hastened to let him know just how adorable he was when he got all flustered.

The instantaneous scowl that crossed his features was well worth the effort in her opinion. "Malfoy's do not look adorable, Hermione. I am appalled to be called such a ridiculous word."

"Of course not, Draco," Hermione quickly placated. "Malfoy's are nothing but perfect, correct?"

"Precisely," he answered, smirking again. His gaze turned worried for a moment before asking, "so are we good?"

Hermione smiled. "Of course we are, Draco. I was just being ridiculous for a moment. So, about this project, you do know where that conference room is, right?"

"Oh, ya for sure. It's on the third floor of the administrative offices, a couple of doors down from the minister's office actually. Should we get going to see our new abode?"

Hermione nodded and started gathering a few of her belongings from her desk after Draco asked her if she wanted to take anything with her. With a grand flourish of his arm, Draco followed her out of her office and began leading her to their new abode as he had called it.

A few pleasantries were exchanged between the two before Draco turned to look at her and asked,

"So, are you going to tell me what was up with that whole Witch Weekly debacle?"

Hermione gapped confusedly at him. "You mean you don't know?"

"I make it a point of not reading anything with a glossy cover, Hermione," Draco stated. Wordlessly Hermione handed him the Witch Weekly magazine she still had in her possession and watched as he burst out laughing in the middle of the elevator after skimming the article. "This has got to top the list of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. Honestly, what shite."

It was amazing how just a few minutes in his presence had her watching her bad mood evaporate – Hermione didn't think it was normal to feel so good around someone after such a short time of knowing them.

After a moment, his laughter subsided and he looked at her curiously. "Have people been giving you a hard time because of this article?"

"A bit. I got a fairly unpleasant visit from Ronald at the beginning of the day, and an even more unpleasant one from Terry Boot later. Mostly though, it's just been uncomfortable stares and unwelcome glares from random people passing me by. Have you not noticed anything?"

It would be fairly impossible for there to be no reaction towards him from the article. As they stepped onto the third floor of the administrative offices, she watched as Draco stopped momentarily and took a quick look around.

"You know, now that you mentioned it, I have noticed that people are staring at me even more than usual. A bit more unpleasantly than usual as well."

"Does it not bother you at all?" How did he do it? Hermione wondered for a moment whether or not it was feigned nonchalance or if Draco actually possessed the ability to not care what people thought about him. She had always had a terrible problem with that.

"It is a bit disheartening that no matter what you do, what kind of worker you are, or the fact that you have become a trusted employee of the minister's, people are more than happy to label you a death eater and glare at you with renewed hatred."

Hermione marvelled for a moment at how close minded she had been – Draco was as much a victim of circumstance as Harry had been, the only differences being that his circumstances lay on the other side. She didn't imagine that it would be easy growing up with parents who supported Voldemort, and then being forced to support him yourself. She had no qualms in believing that Draco did not want to serve Voldemort – he was not sadistic enough to actually want to serve a madman at the tender age of 16.

Harry had told her some time after the battle was over and they were talking that retrospectively, Draco had looked absolutely terrified and anguished on that tower. Hermione wouldn't even dare to try and understand what he had gone through; having Voldemort task you with killing Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards alive, was in a way, worse than trying to find a way to kill Voldemort himself. An ordeal such as that was bound to be taxing and irrevocably life-changing. It's not as if he could have stood up and told Voldemort no, could he? She wasn't dim-witted and childish enough to believe that.

Draco was a victim of circumstance and had probably spent his entire life being groomed towards a certain future. And now, whereas she spent her time complaining that people were always staring at her in awe, she couldn't imagine walking the same ways with peoples' eyes full of hatred.

"But, I have learnt to ignore the stares if I want to be able to do anything other than sit in my room. Which I did do for a while," Draco admitted quietly.

Admiration flowed through Hermione at his words. How funny was it that her former enemy was the one that she found she shared the most qualities with. Ronald had never understood why she had sometimes wanted just to stay home and not go anywhere in the wizarding world – he had always basked in the attention lavished on him by the press and general public. But Draco understood her. She laughed inwardly at how cracked up the world was.

Hermione reached out to grasp his hand for a moment to let him know that she understood exactly what he meant, the world was sometimes completely overwhelming. Before long they reached their intended conference room and Hermione stepped in first, analyzing critically that there wasn't really much to the room at all.

A medium size table stood in the centre of the room, six fairly worn out chairs standing around it. An incredibly dusty and quite dim chandelier hung from the ceiling with a small fireplace on the side of the room to presumably give the room heat. All in all, there really was not much to look at.

Draco entered behind her and immediately let out a loud 'hmm.' Muttering that this arrangement would certainly not work, he took out his wand and promptly started to redecorate the entire room. Hermione was too startled to even move.

Firstly murmuring a quick cleaning charm on the whole room, Draco pointed his wand at the table and she watched it seemingly polish right before her eyes and shrink until it better fit two people. Hermione than watched it change colour and styles, becoming more modern and elegant.

He moved through the entire room, changing things at will, until the room was to his liking. The chairs were elongated, widened, and cushioned, the gaudy seat covering removed. The chandelier was brightened considerably and changed to accommodate only four light bulbs, with fashionable coverings – Draco also attached two smaller lights to each wall, allowing for more light to fill the room. The fireplace was widened and lit, two leather armchairs placed in front of it to allow for more comfortable seating apart from the table. Finally, he changed the colour of the walls from an ugly pale green, to a warm coffee shade.

Hermione's jaw dropped to the floor.

How in the bloody hell did he do that?! "How…what…how on earth did you do that?"

"Oh." Draco looked down onto the floor uncomfortably. "I realize that it's not very manly, but I learned from my mother. After the war she became obsessed in redecorating the new home she bought and made me tag along in order to spend valuable 'mother and son' time. At first I absolutely hated it, but after being dragged along for a few weeks, I decided to participate and at least take something away from it."

He looked away embarrassedly and grumbled, "I guess I got pretty good at it."

"Screw manly, Draco! That was bloody incredible!" He looked up at her and grinned.

"You think so?"

"Of course! I have never seem someone do anything like that before."

Draco smirked before replying, "So, I've stumped the brilliant Hermione Granger, have I?"

She shot him an amused glare. Why was it so easy to fall into flirty banter with him? "Shut it, you prat. But in all seriousness, thank you Draco. I was about to fall into a small despair at the though of having to work in here but now I'm looking forward to it."

Smiling, he took a seat and beckoned for her to as well. Spreading her belongings around the table, she took a deep breath and started mentally preparing for a new task. "Right, let's get to work. I was just thinking that with the supposed importance of what we're going to be working on, it would be wise to somehow ensure that people can't get in here freely. I mean, Kingsley said this was a conference room, correct? People must have come in here before."

Draco nodded at her words, looking thoughtful. "May I make a suggestion?"

Hermione waved her hand to indicate for him to continue. "Well, when you mentioned about keeping people out of this room, an idea popped into my head. During our sixth year, I charmed my bedroom at the Manor to ensure privacy. I turned the doorknob into a lock that required a key and then charmed the key to be sensitive to my fingerprint. Well, it was actually my thumbprint. The key would only unlock the door when touched to my thumb. That way, even if the key was found by someone, they still wouldn't be able to open the door. It was really effective for creating a sanctuary of sorts."

She had really underestimated his brilliance. Hot damn. Hermione momentarily forgot about the situation at hand and wondered how she had gone so long with Ronald who had provided her with absolutely no stimulation. Intelligence was so god damn sexy.

"Draco, that is absolutely brilliant. Do you remember the spell at all? I can conjure up two keys and we can perform the spell right now."

"I think so. Give me a minute."

Leaving him to rack his brain for the spell, Hermione conjured two regular house keys and charmed one to be red, and one to be green, so that they could easily tell whose was whose. She heard and excited 'aha!' beside and pushed the two keys towards Draco.

He smirked when he saw the colours of the keys before asking her for her hand. He pointed his wand and Hermione silently noticed that not even a flash of hesitation crossed her mind before she willingly submitted to whatever he was going to do to her. Though she knew, logically, that Draco wouldn't do anything to her, she couldn't help but observe how quickly he had lowered all her defences. They had barely started talking a few days ago!

Tracing his wand over the pad of Hermione's thumb, Draco clearly stated "Imprimo" and pointed the tip of his wand into the center of the red key which glowed blue before fading. He did the same thing with his own key before explaining to her that they needed to pick up their keys to allow for the key to register their prints for the first time.

As soon as her thumb touched the key, it glowed blue again and strange tingling shot up her arm. She gasped lightly at the sensation and Draco reassured her that there were no lasting consequences of the spell. The key was just registering her magical print on it.

"Perfect! I just magically charmed the door to only fit our two keys so now no one but us can get into this room."

"Thanks, Draco. I already don't know what I'd do without you. Now, Kingsley, mentioned a few things that we would need to figure out for this whole thing to work out, right?"

Draco ticked them off on his fingers, "Find a location, hire builders, organize the stadium, make seating charts, and organize the people."

"Right." Pausing a moment, something didn't click in Hermione's brain. "Wait, what on earth would we need seating charts for?"

Draco looked at her as if she had lost her marbles. "Hermione, seating at a Quidditch Cup is very organized. There are many levels of tickets and the dignitaries need to be carefully arranged. Surely you knew that?"

Apparently she had not known that. "Why on earth would the dignitaries need to be organized? Can't they all just sit wherever?"

Taking one glance at Hermione's serious face, Draco burst out laughing. Throwing his head back, he laughed until tears started streaking down his face. "Oh Merlin, Hermione. You have got to be the funniest person I know. You really know nothing about international politics do you?"

"It appears not."

"Well let me enlighten you then. For example, ever since the French minister's wife slept with the Italian minister's brother, those two dignitaries refuse to sit within ten metres of each other. Therefore, allowing them to sit wherever as you put it, would probably result in bloody murder," Draco told her still chuckling.

Hermione sighed – this was going to be infinitely harder than she thought. "Fine, fine, okay, you can stop laughing at me now, Draco. I admit defeat. I may have a good work ethic but I obviously know nothing about international relations or Quidditch cups in general."

Draco just smirked. "Obviously."

"Merlin, this is going to be so bloody difficult," she mumbled.

Draco's smirk dropped almost instantly. "So where do we start?"

Hermione gaped at him, "You're asking me?!"

"Well I have no idea what to do."

"Well neither do I! This is just great. Fuck."

"Fuck indeed, Hermione," Draco interjected.

What a brilliant way to begin a partnership.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Okay. We can do this Draco. What we need is a plan. A list of things in order of importance that we need to accomplish to be able to get anywhere with this project." She had complete faith in their abilities. At least she thought she did. Logic. They needed logic, lots and lots of logic, and then they would be fine.

Draco sighed and then stated, "Right. I think that what we need first is to organize all the details surrounding the stadium. Finding a location is going to be quite difficult so we can put that off for now I think. The most important thing is to determine the cost and size of the stadium and the amount of people that are going to be able to come."

"Do you have any sort of documentation on past quidditch cups so that we can see what other organizers came up with? In my opinion, it would be really hard to start from nothing."

Draco reached into the pocket of his rather well-fitting suit and took out a small stack which he enlarged to form a pile of notes on various quidditch cups. Hermione had to tear her eyes away from him in that suit before she started salivating. Well. Him looking that good was certainly not going to help her concentration or work ethic one bit. She couldn't very well let thoughts of his delectable physique to enter her mind every time she caught a glance of him, could she?

Draco started sorting his various notes into piles. "Okay, so I have historical data on the past three quidditch cups including the rather unfortunate one that was in England last time. The first pile is about the structure of the stadiums, size and such, the second is about the finances, and the third is information on the people."

How was he already so prepared for their project? "Did you know about this project beforehand, Draco? How are you so prepared?"

Draco looked up at her, startled from his own thoughts. "No, I didn't know. Kingsley walked into my office before we came to you and asked me to take all my notes on quidditch with me, as I might need them in a meeting we were going to. Turns out the meeting is this one."

Well that explained it. "Okay, then. I just felt awful for a moment when I realized that I wasn't particularly prepared."

Laughing, Draco replied that it was no trouble. "Hermione, I have an idea about all these notes. Instead of looking through all these piles, why don't we make a bigger table that incorporates all the information in these sheets and lets us compare all three quidditch cups side by side?"

God, he really was brilliant. She remembered how much Harry and Ron had teased her in school for making tables to organize information. Well they could suck it now. Looks like people in the real world used them too.

"Okay. That will save us a lot of time in the long run, I think." She started to reach for a sheet from the finances pile and blank piece of paper that she had brought with her from her office, when she felt Draco grab her wrist.

"What are you doing, Hermione?"

She looked at him, perplexed. Didn't he just suggest that they make a bigger table to incorporate more information? How in the hell was she supposed to do that without writing anything down?

"What on earth do you mean, Draco? Didn't you just suggest that we make a table?"

"Oh you poor, naïve, little thing," Draco said grinning. "Lucky for you, this is exactly the type of stuff I was asked to do when I first started – re-writing and organizing arse numbingly boring things that no one ever used. Thanks to my own brilliance though, I came up with a clever little spell that does it for me. I'll show you."

Draco proceed to take the sheet she was planning on writing on and wrote the dates of the three quidditch cups, one beneath the other, and the categories they had discussed on it. He then put all the notes together into one pile again and turned to her.

"Okay, so this took almost two weeks of fiddling with to perfect but it really lightened my work load when I first started. Pass me a blank sheet of paper, please."

Hermione did as she was told and sat back to watch what she was sure to be an impressive display of intelligence. Draco first waved his wand over the notes and said "effingo" which seemed to have no effect until he pressed his wand to the blank paper where an exact replica of the notes was becoming visible. He then said "discervido" before pointing to the dates he wrote down in succession and later the categories.

Hermione watched, enthralled, as the words on the page moved in front of her eyes and arranged themselves into three tables, one for each quidditch cup. The tables each had three parts, one for each of the categories that Draco had pointed to earlier.

"How did you do that?" She asked in amazement.

"Well, it was quite simple really. First I copied my notes onto the single page so that we wouldn't have so much paper to work with. What came next was a combination of the charm for separate and the charm for divide. I wanted to separate the notes based on the three quidditch cups, so I wrote down the three years and the charm found any mention of the corresponding years in the notes when I tapped them and separated them accordingly. Then, I wanted to divide them into the three categories we discussed, so I did the same thing and the second part of the charm divided the notes again. Therefore, voila! It works the same no matter how many times you need to separate or divide the intended material. It saved me so much time. And convinced my superiors that I was not completely incompetent."

She stared in awe. All that time spent often knowing that she was the smartest person in the room were officially gone. In one afternoon of working together, Draco Malfoy was already showing her that he was not one to be underestimated.

"Brilliant, Draco. Truly." Brilliant was a bit of a tame word. Even though Hermione knew that she probably would have been able to come up with something similar herself, she was raised as a muggle, so sometimes the thought that things such as creating tables could be done by magic just didn't occur to her. It was certain, however, that she would never do another table by hand. What a bloody waste of time.

"Of course it's brilliant," Draco scoffed. "I came up with it!"

Hermione smiled at him, "I remember you saying something in previous conversations about you not being an egotistical prat anymore?"

"I think that was a bit of an exaggeration – everyone must acknowledge the greatness of Draco Malfoy." Smirking, Draco added. "Besides, that was just to get onto your good side."

If she hadn't spent so much time with him already, and knew that this was all good natured ribbing, and was maybe a year younger, Hermione probably would have gotten offended at that statement. But sitting here now she realized that she quite enjoyed the bantering – no one else in her life, sparring Ginny, had the nerve or the want to spar verbally with her. Ronald's supposed sense of humour had never been directed at her, but rather used at her expense, and Harry was usually too tired or busy to spend hours bantering with her. But sitting with Draco, Hermione realized just how much she missed engaging in mini verbal sword fights.

She smirked right back at him, "And now that you are on my good side, Draco?"

"Now I can do whatever I want, Hermione," he answered chuckling. Trying to prove his point, Draco leaned back in his chair and propped his leather shoe clad feet on the table, right next to her hands.

"Please, go right ahead, Mr. Malfoy. Maybe you would even like to lie down on the table completely? Would that tickle your fancy?"

"Ha, bloody, ha, Miss Granger. You really do know exactly what to say." And with that, Hermione watched Draco get out of his chair, jump onto the table and actually lay down. As changed as he was, it seemed that he still thought the world was his oyster.

"Perhaps a blanket would add to your comfort, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Perhaps. However, I do believe that you joining me up here, would in fact tickle my fancy even more. Care to?"

She honestly felt as though the heat in the room had gone up a few notches at his words. What a cliché that was but nonetheless, true. Hermione really didn't think that she could carry on this flirting banter game for very much longer – she did not have very much experience with innuendo.

"I do hope that wasn't a proposition to get me into your bed Mr. Malfoy. That would be terribly inappropriate," Hermione calmly stated. Well, as calmly as she could considering the fact that Draco Malfoy, in a suit, was lying on a table in front of her, his eyes boring into her own, propositioning her to go to bed with him. There is only so much that a girl can take.

Draco smirked. "Of course not, Miss Granger, of course not," he quickly placated. "We wouldn't to have any unprofessional conduct, now would we?"

"Of course not, Mr. Malfoy, of course, not." Hermione stated, desperately hoping that the heat running through her veins at the whole situation was not visible on her face.

Suddenly, Draco shot up from the table and sat back down in his seat. "Alright then. That's enough with the flirty banter for now as things are very close to getting out of hand."

Hell, ain't that the truth. Hermione was probably about a minute or two away from doing something completely irrational which would probably ruin whatever relationship that they were trying to build. What had gotten into her? She had never felt like this, or had thoughts like this, or had any sort of desire to do anything like what she was currently contemplating to do. Hermione couldn't believe that she was so starved for attention that she actually succumbed to lustful thoughts after such a short period of time.

But honestly. It wasn't like Draco was unaffected – he was after all the one who had stopped the flirting or bantering or whatever the hell they were actually doing. Besides. She was not a fucking nun. She didn't have to act like a slut to enjoy a man's intentions – one who clearly intended to pursue a relationship with her. Who clearly was pursuing a relationship with her. Even if that man was Draco Malfoy. A very, very, delicious Draco Malfoy.

Shaking her head, she turned back to the organized chart in front of them and enlarged it so as to better see the words and figures displayed. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione noticed Draco close his eyes, clench his fists and take a few deep breaths as if to calm himself – she wondered if he was perhaps just as affected as she.

How on earth could they have such a connection after only a few days? Hermione had stopped believing in all that love at first sight nonsense years ago. Ginny had always tried to convince her that it was possible, but her? Love just didn't work that way, in Hermione's opinion. And yet here she was, sitting next Draco fucking Malfoy, both of them desperately trying to get their thoughts under control.

Coaching her thoughts back to the project at hand, she suggested to Draco that they hang the newly created table on the wall, so as to make it clearly visible from all angles of the room. That done, Draco started rattling off financial statistics on the past three quidditch cups stating that they couldn't really plan anything without first deciding how much money they could spend on the project.

"Okay, so the ministry spent over 2 million galleons on the cup in England in 1994, the French ministry spent over 5 million on the cup in Paris in '96, and the Americans spent a whopping 10 million on the cup in '98. Which, if you ask me is a complete and utter waste of money," Draco stated.

Hermione stuttered incoherently at the information. 10 million galleons?! Well, what they say about the Americans being frivolous must have some truth in it, in that case. "Did Kingsley tell you if he has a budget for us?"

He shook his head adamantly. "No, he didn't mention anything to me. However, from everything that I know about him, he would probably like it if we came to him with a proposal for how much we think it would cost."

"Okay, so since we're not sure how much money we have at our disposal, we need to decide what to spend money on ourselves," she deduced.

Draco nodded along. "Right, so the original stadium from the previous cup in England was burnt down because of said unfortunate events that occurred, and Kingsley is resolute in that he wants the cup to occur in a different place this time so as not to bring up bad memories. Therefore, we'll need to build a new stadium which costs quite a bit."

"Okay, so we'll need money for that," Hermione concluded. "Also, because the stadium in America was twice as big as the others, they hired more security and therefore had to pay more. Seeing as our stadium most likely won't be that big, we can cross that cost off our list."

"Okay, but then how many people are we allowing to come?" Draco asked.

And so it went. For the next three hours she and Draco asked questions back and forth, generally getting absolutely nowhere. In place of every decision that they seemed to come to, another question came up, preventing them from coming up with anything concrete. It was bloody infuriating.

Not to mention the fact that she was starting to get desperate to go home. As ridiculous as it sounded, she had actually been looking forward to going home before six to catch a movie on the telly – a re-run of Star Wars was on and Hermione had been eager to catch her old favourite. Correction, is still eager to catch her old favourite. However, she downright refused to be the first to leave work.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Draco asked, looking concerned. "You keep checking your watch. Do you need to be somewhere?"

Well fuck. There go the thoughts that she was being at least a little covert. Apparently spending so much time with Ronald had dulled her senses – it's not like he wasn't known for being objective. Maybe she could lie?

But again, Ronald was probably much easier to fool than Draco. And in all honesty, it felt right to sit next to someone who could call out her lie, instead of next to someone who she could fool without batting an eye. Still, how embarrassing.

Hermione sighed, here goes nothing. "Well… I was checking my watch because I had plans to go home and watch a movie, actually."

Draco looked at her, perplexedly. "What on earth is a movie, Hermione?"

She sometimes forgot just how clueless the wizarding world was. How can anyone not know about movies?

"Oh dear, how am I supposed to explain this to you, Draco? You know wizarding photographs, right?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded in the affirmative. "Well a movie is played on a television which is like a giant picture frame. It's like a wizard photo except with sound – the picture tells a story that is a lot longer, and there are different characters that interact to form a complete plot line."

"Like a moving book?" Draco asked, seemingly racking his brain for an image to what Hermione was describing.

"Absolutely! That's basically what I'm talking about. Imagine reading a book but being able to watch the characters talking to each other in front of you and being able to hear all the sounds being described on the page. That's what a movie is like," Hermione stated excitedly.

Draco stared at her in awe. "That's bloody brilliant, that is! And you wanted to go home to watch one of these movies?" Hermione nodded.

"Skipping out on work already, are we Hermione?" He asked, smirking. "Didn't know you were already so tired of me."

Ugh, of course that's exactly what he would say. Still a prat, by all accounts. "See? This is why I didn't mention anything, Draco. I know that it's a stupid idea and oh, I can't believe I even brought this up."

"It's alright with me Hermione – if you want to go home and watch this movie thing, then by all accounts, go. We can wrap up our work here, I don't think there's much more that we can accomplish today."

A thought struck her, a ridiculously foolish thought, but a thought nonetheless. What if she invited Draco over? It's not like they had to do anything, but it would be nice to have some company. Interaction with him was indeed stimulating – it beat sitting on the couch and reading whichever book she picked up for the fifth time.

"What are you doing tonight, Draco?" Hermione asked him timidly.

"Me?" Draco looked at her sheepishly, pointing to himself. "Nothing much, really. I was just thinking of moping about my apartment actually." Perfect.

"Would you like to come over to my place?" He looked astonished before smiling at her, with what Hermione noticed to be a touch of nervousness. Draco Malfoy nervous to come over Hermione Granger's apartment? She thought it endearing.

"I would love to Hermione. If you're sure that it's alright with you, that is."

Smiling, she grabbed his hand and gathering their things with a flick of her wand, she apparated the pair straight into her living room.


	10. Chapter 10

_I am so completely and terribly sorry for not updating sooner. I have been swamped with school and have not had time to sit down and write anything worth posting. Hope you'll all keep reading!_

Chapter 10

It was altogether different to talk about having Draco in her apartment, than to actually have Draco in her apartment. She could feel her hands clamming up slightly as her nervousness reached a whole new peak. Why in the bloody hell was this so nerve wracking?! It's not like anything was actually happening. Or going to happen. No matter how delectable Draco looked in his suit. Nope. Nada. Nothing happening.

So why was she clamming up? It was so simple; make dinner, serve dinner, turn on telly, watch Star Wars. Except it wasn't that simple at all. It wasn't just dinner, it was dinner with Draco Malfoy. In her apartment. And it wasn't just watching the telly, it was watching Star Wars with Draco Malfoy. In her apartment. And that was just a whole level of potentially awkward that Hermione simply did not want to reach.

Oh, for the love of god. She hadn't realized that her courage had apparently taken an unauthorised leave of absence. Telling Draco that she would just be a moment, Hermione turned towards the kitchen of her moderate flat and bent to take a pizza out of the refrigerator.

But naturally, Draco Malfoy being Draco Malfoy, did not heed her advice and had promptly followed her into the kitchen and asked what a refrigerator was, making her jump and become expressly aware that her arse had only moments before been on display, sticking up into the air. And she had said that nothing was going to happen.

Deciding not to dwell on the moment, she began to explain the inner workings and functions of a refrigerator, however, not before she heard him almost inaudibly clear his throat. Like she said, nothing was going to happen. No matter how much she seemed to affect him.

To her surprise, Hermione found Draco to be quite interested in all the muggle appliances that she had pointed out to him. And when he told her that he finally understood all the weird boxes in his own apartment, her jaw noticeably dropped.

"Y-yo-you live in a muggle neighbourhood?" She stuttered at him.

Draco looked slightly affronted for a moment, "Yes, I do. Why is that such a revelation?"

Hermione stuttered even more. "Wh-why is that a revelation? Because you're Draco Malfoy!" Thankfully, Draco dropped the affronted look and laughed again. Merlin, her was doing that a lot.

"Yes, I do realize that Hermione, thank you," He told her still chuckling and she looked past her confusion to glare at him. Conceited prat. "After the war, my mother and I refused to live in the manor, so she bought a cottage by the sea where we both lived for a while. However, I began craving independence and decided to purchase a flat for myself. Muggle London was a perfect choice – anonymity, after all, is my best friend, Hermione. So there. Now you have my entire life story."

She could understand that – it was, after all, the exact same reason why she lived in muggle London. But wait, something didn't add up. "How could you live in muggle London and not know what a refrigerator is, Draco? What on earth do you eat?"

To her increased confusion, he just laughed at her. But as she watched him laughing, she recognized more of the fundamental differences between Draco and Ronald. While Ronald had often laughed at her as well, it was often condescending and with slight derision. Draco laughed because he generally found her remark amusing. The difference was spectacular.

"Hermione, I think you might have greatly overestimated my expertise. Just because I live in a muggle flat, does not mean that I have clue about anything involving muggles.

When I don't eat with my mother, I usually just grab something in Diagon Alley."

Ah yes. "The Malfoy fortune makes another appearance, does it?" She asked him.

"Precisely, Hermione, precisely," Draco answered chuckling still. "I have only been living there for three months so the effect still hasn't been felt but I think I really should start eating at home more."

"Well, we're having pizza today, so you can start today. You don't mind eating pizza from the oven, right?" Please don't be like Ronald, please don't be like Ronald. It would be really nice to be with someone who's okay with eating pizza.

"Hermione, I don't know what pizza is. Or an oven for that matter. Although seeing as you're going to be eating it as well, I can safely assume that you are not poisoning me," Draco replied evenly.

Chuckling Hermione replied, "I am not poisoning you, Draco. Honestly, do you have so little faith in me?"

"Of course! I remember what a hellcat you used to be in school, Hermione. My personal motto has become 'proceed with caution,' " he answered, chuckling.

Hermione laughed outright. Hellcat. That was a new description. She didn't mind being known as a hellcat. "Wait, how do you know that muggle saying, Draco?"

"I may not know anything about all those muggle boxes that you have, Hermione, but I am not completely clueless when it comes to muggles. My company, Malfoy Enterprises, works in the real estate market here in London. That sign was mandatory to put up on the entrance to one of my construction sites according to muggle laws," Draco replied.

Her jaw dropped. Again. How was it possible for one person to continually astonish her at every street corner? First it was living in a muggle neighbourhood – that she could understand as Draco's own need for anonymity was most likely higher than her own. But running a company that operated in muggle London? That just blew her away. Introduce dropped jaw.

"You run a company in muggle London?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

At these words, Draco sighed audibly and looked a bit affronted again. "Look Hermione, I know that my current life choices are likely to be a great shock to you considering my past but I am really trying to start anew and I would appreciate it if you would give me the benefit of the doubt."

"Oh Draco, I really didn't mean anything by it – I was just momentarily astonished because the information was so out of the blue. I think it's wonderful that you've gone so far to try and start anew. Why don't you tell me about what your company does while the pizza finishes baking?"

And so, while the pizza finished off in the oven, Hermione listened as Draco explained his company's dealings in detail, describing the different properties he owned and projects he was interested in. She was particularly flabbergasted, again, to hear that he hired an older gentleman, a squib, to act as his company liaison as he didn't understand the muggle world all that much. Fishing two wine glasses and a bottle of elderflower wine out, Hermione asked him about how he managed to control his business without being too involved in the muggle world.

Draco replied eagerly, and one could clearly see how enthusiastic he was about his work. "Well, when I first began working, I put in an advertisement into the Daily Prophet looking for an assistant who had knowledge of the muggle world to help me out. I used an alias of course, since otherwise I doubt I would have found anyone to help me. Thomas was the first person to apply for the position, and after explaining my reasons for using an alias, he agreed to work for me. Thomas brought me some books on muggle contract law, which gave me the knowledge I needed to write up my various contracts. So basically, now he acts as the company liaison, going to meet with clients and such, while I do the background work and gain a reputation for being that mysterious, brilliant, and wealthy CEO," he finished grinning.

When you put it that way. She was still a bit astonished at how much Draco Malfoy had really changed. At the restaurant, it was more like she noticed that he talked and laughed more and seemed more at ease. And was much, much, much nicer. Much nicer. But talking to him now, Hermione realized that he was pretty much a different person – so much about him had transformed that she barely recognized the man in front of her as the Draco Malfoy that she thought she knew.

He was completely intriguing. Taking the pizza out of the oven, Hermione asked, "So, Draco. What things have you learned about the muggle world from your escapades as a mysterious, brilliant, and wealthy CEO?"

"OH!" His eyes lit up in merriment. "A couple of weeks ago I discovered this fantastic thing called coffee! I was at a business lunch with a couple of American hotel owners and they were drinking it. Being the well mannered person that I am, I partook and was given the heaven that is cofffe," Draco finished grinning a hundred-watt smile.

Hermione almost doubled over from laughter. Draco Malfoy getting this excited over coffee?! What a sight to behold. "You mean to tell me, Draco, that you have never had coffee up until this point?"

Draco shook his head vigorously and leaned over the counter towards her. "Indeed I have not. But no worries, my lady, I am most definitely not giving it up now."

"Ooh! The pizza is ready!"

Draco looked sceptically at the large, round, cheese covered monstrosity currently sitting on Hermione's countertop. "This is pizza?"

Hermione sighed. "I know it may not look particularly appetizing, but I promise you that the taste is to die for, Draco. Just try some!" Cutting her dinner partner a piece, Hermione watched in anticipation as he eyed the piece critically before letting out an audible sigh and taking a bite. She grinned in triumph when Draco's eyes widened and he hastily took another bite of his pizza. So the little pureblood did like it.

"Hermione, this is really good! I didn't think that something that looked so disgusting could taste so good, but wow!" He proceeded to virtually gobble down the entire piece, looking exceptionally silly in Hermione's opinion. She couldn't help but let out a small giggle, drawing Draco's attention away from his thorough devouring of his piece of pizza.

As soon as his eyes met hers, he closed them in absolute mortification, picking up the napkin to hide the stretching blush on his cheeks. "Oh merlin, Hermione, I am sorry. Where the hell have my manners gone. I most likely looked like some kind of animal eating like that. Oh merlin, what on earth came over me?"

Frankly, to her he just looked like Ronald did during every meal. The fact that he was mortified at his own behaviour, led Hermione to believe that she might have finally found someone with better manners than she was used to. What a concept.

Draco was still muttering to himself, refusing to lift his head and look her in the eyes. "What would mother say if she saw me like that… way to royally fuck it up, Draco."

Deciding to take pity on the pitiful display in front of her, she reached out to put her hand on his bicep and used the other to lightly raise his chin, forcing him to lift his head. Still, the boy was extremely stubborn and kept his eyes downcast. Without even thinking, she brushed a hand over his cheek, startling him enough to open his eyes.

"Draco, what say we just forget that anything ever happened, ya?" He nodded quickly, his eyes never leaving hers and she suddenly found herself virtually unwilling to tear her hand away from his cheek. They, however, were far too close for comfort. It was when her eyes dropped down to his lips for a mere moment that she took her hand away from his cheek and stepped back, licking abruptly dry lips and clearing her throat. As Hermione chanced one more glance at Draco, she thought she noticed a faint longing in his eyes before he too cleared his throat and schooled his expression. She had been saying something about nothing happening? Right.

Without further ado, Hermione grabbed a plate, two pieces of pizza, and her wine glass and headed towards her couch where Star Wars awaited, motioning for Draco to come along. "Okay, so remember what I was saying about movies, Draco?"

"Yes, you told me earlier that they were like books with moving pictures and sound."

"Right, well this is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I'm not going to outline the plotline as you can gather that from the actualy movie, but I am going to warn you that there are going to be a lot of things moving, loud sounds, and bright pictures. I know it sounds like I'm treating you like a child, but the last time I showed a wizard a movie, they fell off the couch in shock. I'm taking precautions," Hermione told Draco matter of factly.

Draco smiled at her and moved to grab his other piece of pizza. "Hermione, I appreciate you letting me know. I am beyond intrigued by this black box that's supposed to show me a moving book."

She smiled and her heart warmed a bit. Ronald had never really been interested in anything from her muggle life. When she had begged him to watch some tv with her once, he had dutifully sat by her but proclaimed every few minutes that he could be spending his time playing quidditch. Nevertheless, she hadn't pestered him into watching the telly with her again. To have Draco sitting next to her, enthralled and excited to watch a movie, did very funny things to her heart.

They settled down to watch and Hermione found herself frequently looking over at Draco, amused to no end to see his eyes wide and trained on the screen. It was as he let out a small wow, when some complicated stunt move was executed, that she let out a giggle – Draco's head snapped up to look at her and a huge smile took over his features. Smiling in return, she turned her eyes back to the movie and let out a small gasp as she felt Draco's arm move around her and give a little tug to pull her closer to him. Not trusting herself to look into his face, Hermione steeled the butterflies in her stomach and leaned against Draco's side, resting her head on his shoulder, and placing her hand lightly on his stomach. On his very, very, hard stomach. She could honestly feel the ridges of his abs through his shirt. Dear Merlin.

How was a girl supposed to think with abs like that right under her fingers? Fuck. She thanked whatever deity looked over these types situations that her face was hidden from view so that the extraordinary blush creeping across her cheeks remained unseen. The rest of the movie passed in a blur for Hermione as the little draws of breath that Draco took every time she moved were much more interesting. Much more interesting.

As the credits rolled, Draco moved a little so that he could see her face and donned a contemplative look. Her curiosity peaked, Hermione asked him what was on his mind.

"Do you remember when I mentioned that I wanted us to get to know each other better? Well I was thinking that there was no better way for us to get to know each other than for you to give me a muggle education!"

She looked at him enquiringly. What in the name of merlin? "A muggle education?"

"Yes! I don't really know much about muggles, so I thought that we could you know, spend time together with you teaching me about the muggle world. Instead of me taking you out on dates to merlin knows where, you could show me around a world that I've never had a chance to thoroughly explore."

He truly was fantastic. She had barely spent two days with him, and Hermione Granger was already attached. "Draco, that is a splendid idea. Absolutely splendid."

"You can show me where you can get pizza and coffee!" He remarked with a laugh.

"Sounds like a plan, Draco."

Placing a kiss on her cheek that made Hermione suck in her breath, Draco tightened his arm around her and settled down to watch the next instalment. The last thought that crossed Hermione's mind before she became to captivated with the movie, was that this was how it was supposed to be.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It had been hands down the most entertaining trip to the grocery store that she had ever been on – for their first lesson in muggle education, Hermione had taken Draco to the grocery store near her flat as he had demanded to know where to get coffee after she told him that one could buy it in a store.

It had been like going to a store with a small child, Draco had walked around with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth, exclaiming over every little thing that she found completely commonplace. She frankly didn't understand how one could find things like cream cheese fascinating but Draco considered it to be the greatest thing that Merlin had come up with in the last 200 years. And don't even get her started on Nutella. Godric help her, when she told him that it was a melted chocolate spread, his jaw had dropped, most likely to the basement, before promptly depositing the entire shelf into her cart. And she thought that she was the only one with a sweet tooth.

She supposed that for someone who had never really been in the muggle world, such things were the height of discovery. It had been astonishingly amusing to watch Draco in the store; when she had shown him the coffee section, she thought that he would absolutely burst with excitement. He could not believe that there were so many types of coffee to choose from and being a Malfoy, he decided to try every single one. Only after picking up seventeen different types of coffee did he realize that he needed something to make the coffee with. And so off they went, the coffee piling up in her cart, to buy Draco a coffee machine, followed by large amounts of sugar and some specialty creams. The look on the cashier's face when they had walked up to the checkout had been even more precious than the one on Draco's.

Just thinking about their outing had been forcing her to stifle her giggling all the way to the Ministry that morning – as she had gone to get Draco and herself a coffee from Starbucks before work, she was taking the visitor's entrance into the ministry. The outing to the grocery store had been a whole week ago and she was already itching to go somewhere with Draco again. He lit up her life like no one else did; as ridiculous as it sounded, her life didn't seem so grey whenever she was with him and those two evenings alone had really highlighted the differences.

As Hermione walked through the halls to their office/working area, she hoped that Draco would like her outfit for the day – it had been months since she had dressed up for a man, and the thought itself usually activated her fierce feminist side. But thoughts of Draco were mostly equated with heat rushing down her body and the idea of him appreciating what she was wearing brought a certain flush to her skin.

Opening the door to their room, she spied Draco leaning over the table and smiled. The man was wearing a pinstripe suit! A dark grey pinstripe suit with a white dress shirt underneath – Hermione had never heard of anyone looking good in pinstripes, but here sat Draco in front of her taking her breath away. Godric, did that man look bad in anything?!

He finally seemed to notice someone behind him and looked over his shoulder. Upon seeing her, she saw a smile break out over his face and he stood up to greet her, exclaiming, "Hermione!"

And that's when he noticed what she was wearing. She saw the smile fall of his face as his eyes darkened, his right hand clenching into a fist as he methodically looked over her, top to bottom. Hermione felt his eyes wander from the collar of her dark green, silk blouse, to the top two undone buttons, to the blouse tucked into a skin tight black pencil skirt that deliciously hugged all of her curves and down her legs, to the peep-toe black pumps. She heard him quietly groan in appreciation before closing his eyes tightly. So her partner did appreciate the effort that she put in. The realization brought a swift smile to her face.

"Hello, Draco," Hermione greeted, subconsciously lowering her tone of voice to caress his name the way he often did hers.

"Hello," he choked out, his husky tone matching hers. Dear Merlin, before meeting Draco she hadn't known that one could flirt simply with greetings – it was going to be a long day. Wanting to alleviate the awkwardness of the moment, she held out the coffee cup towards him.

"I brought you coffee," Hermione stated. Awkwardness alleviated immediately, Draco's eyes lit up and he reached out towards the coffee with a grin and took the top off wanting to take a drink right away.

"Watch out, it's…" Draco cursed as the very hot liquid touched and burned his tongue. "Hot," Hermione finished, choking back laughter.

"Ya, thanks for that, Hermione. Fuck that hurts!" She choked back more giggles and outright laughed when Draco glared at her. "Here, let me." Reaching up she took hold of his jaw and touched his lips with the tip of her wand muttering a quick healing spell under her breath. Not wanting to prolong the two of them being so close together, Hermione took a step back and told him straight that the burn was his own fault for not waiting for the coffee to cool down a bit. She laughed again when he pouted.

"But it's so delicious! How am I supposed to wait before drinking something that is that wonderful?" Draco cried. She felt like she was lecturing a small child instead of talking to a grown man. That's what she got for introducing a red blooded male to an addictive substance.

"Let's just get to work before you really hurt yourself."

Draco sighed grandly. "Fine."

There was a thought. The work lasted for not even an hour before Draco slammed his hand down on the table and stood up. "Okay, I am done with this. I've wanted to go on a date with you since I left the last one, and I have no concentration today so were are leaving."

Was he deluded? He couldn't seriously be suggesting that they skive off work to go somewhere, could he?

"Draco, have you lost your mind? We can't possibly leave work." The man must have surely lost his marbles.

"No, I haven't. And yes, we can! I am completely serious. It's bloody obvious that neither you nor I have the ability to work well today so we are going to go out." Draco stated emphatically. That did it. The man was surely daft. There was no way that she, Hermione Granger, would be leaving work, unauthorized, mere days after being assigned to a major project. No way in hell.

She quickly opened her mouth to insistently tell Draco that, when she felt his hand grab hers impatiently and recognized the uncomfortable squeeze of apparition. She raised her head to look at their surroundings once they had landed, noticing Gringott's to her left, before turning to look at Draco and giving him a death glare. How dare he forcefully take her from work?

To her everlasting surprise, he didn't flinch back as most people did when she gave them that glare. Instead he grasped her hands in his and gave her a pleading look.

"Hermione, please. I know that you are upset at me, but I'm having an off day and really need to get out of the office. Besides, it's not as if we can't work fast enough to make up for it tomorrow. Please, take me out somewhere!" She looked at him again, losing the death glare as she looked at his pleading face. How could anyone say no to that look? Hermione guessed that that's how the young Draco had come to be so spoiled.

She acquiesced. "Fine! Fine. You have convinced me. I'll take you out. Besides, it's like you said, we can always make up for the work tomorrow."

Draco whooped, "Yes!"

"So, where do you want to go?"

"I would like you to take me clothes shopping, Hermione," he requested. Clothes shopping? What kind of guy wanted to go clothes shopping?

"Oh, don't give me that look, Hermione. I don't particularly enjoy clothes shopping but I don't have any muggle clothing. The only things that I have ever owned are suits and dress pants and I've realized that I could actually use some casual clothing. Besides, all the muggles were looking at me funny last week for wearing a suit."

Again, she acquiesced. "Alright, I'll take you shopping. What do you want to buy?"

"Everything," Draco answered, smirking. Spoken like a true Malfoy. Why have only some things if you can buy them all?

It turned out that clothes shopping with Draco was as amusing as grocery shopping. The sight of him wrinkling his nose or shaking his head in distaste was so commonplace that Hermione often felt a very uncharacteristic empathy towards most of the salespeople that twittered around him. And the women! He really wasn't joking when he mentioned to her during their first dinner that he got a lot of female attention – after five minutes in the first department store they had entered, Draco was surrounded by no less than four female salespeople, all with their own opinions on how to highlight his 'gorgeous' features. To Draco's everlasting displeasure, Hermione had shrunk back instead of facing the vultures, leaving him to fend off the attacks himself. It was the least she could do for such an attractive prat, truly.

As they entered another high-end store, Hermione wondered how Draco would feel about wearing jeans – they were quite common in the muggle world but for someone who had worn dress pants for almost his entire life, they were quite a stretch. As soon as they entered the store, a woman, roughly twenty-five years of age descended upon the two of them and basically latched herself onto him. Merlin! What the hell was it with women who could not control themselves around a decent looking guy? Well, way more than decent but still! Did they not see how completely pathetic they looked?

Draco politely asked the woman to show him a selection of jeans, but rolled his eyes towards Hermione as soon as she turned her back. The woman, who introduced herself as Brittany, returned quite quickly holding a ridiculously large pile of jeans, and promptly took Draco's arm, steering him towards the dressing rooms. She smiled and leaned into the doorway, in what she would probably describe as a seductive way, before telling Draco to take his time. Hermione laughed out loud as she saw Draco discreetly shudder as the woman left and wipe his arm off.

Brittany looked over at her from behind the counter near the centre of the store and gave her the stink eye. Oh yes, the stink eye. Did she forget to mention that as another sure sign of desperation? The saleswoman quickly went over to Draco's cubicle and knocked lightly, asking whether the jeans were to his satisfaction. As the door opened, Brittany was very eager to tell him just how good he looked, but Draco ignored her completely, poking his head out the door and calling to her.

"Hermione, could you come look at these?" She, go and look at Draco in jeans that leave barely anything to the imagination and define his scrumptious ass? Well, if she must.

Brittany slouched off with a scowl on her face as Hermione approached and she blew the woman's back a kiss as she walked away. Looking into the fitting room cubicle, she was met with the sight of Draco, looking fantastic in jeans, lifting the edge of his shirt up so that she caught a peek of his abs. Merlin, was she drooling?

"So, how do they look? I hope they fit okay because they are so much more comfortable than anything I've ever worn," Draco stated, looking himself over in the fitting room mirror. Fit okay? Hermione was pretty sure that the jeans were sewn for him, let alone fit okay.

"They look really good, Draco," she said, the words coming out a lot softer than she intended. He smirked at her, declaring that jeans had officially become his new love, before picking up all the ones that were in his size and taking them to the cashier.

Since money was obviously not an issue for him, they visited several dozen other stores, most of which had Draco exclaiming at all the different styles that were currently in fashion. He could not, for the life of him, understand why anyone would want to wear a shirt with printed designs on it, or something in the colour yellow. Draco told her that it had been beaten into him from a young age that Malfoy men were not allowed to wear anything in bright colours and certainly not anything in pink, lavender, or baby blue.

His purchases consisted mostly of casual dress shirts in deep colours, black and grey sweaters and cardigans, and an assortment of t-shirts. Draco, being a Malfoy, adamantly refused to consider wearing a hoodie or running shoes – when he was told by some young and strapping salesman that running shoes like Pumas were the height of fashion, Draco had told him that it was blaringly obvious that only people who could not afford Italian leather would wear shoes like that.

They had not been welcome back into that store and Hermione couldn't really fault Draco for being rude – after all, one couldn't change everything about oneself and Italian leather shoes happened to be Draco's vice.

It was as they left the last shoe store that a poster for a carnival on the side of a building caught her eye. A carnival. Now that would be a sure fire way to introduce Draco to more of the muggle world.

Turning to him, Hermione asked, "Draco, how do you feel about going to a carnival?"

"A carnival?" Draco looked at her, perplexed.

"Yes, it's a place where people go where you can play a lot of games and go on rides," Hermione explained to him.

"Why not?" he shrugged and answered smiling, "Sounds like fun."

And so, after carefully shrinking all of Draco's purchases out of view of any passer-by's, the two of them found an alley to jump into it and apparated to the carnival as buses, in Hermione's opinion, took entirely too long.

Draco, for his part, was immediately taken with the idea of carnival. He eagerly went from booth to booth, carefully examining all of the games, trying a few, and failing spectacularly. Embarrassed, he refused to play anything else and declared that Hermione had gone mad when she suggested they try out one of the rollercoasters.

"Funny, Draco. That's exactly what I said to you this morning, and yet, here we are!" Godric, he was such a child.

Her companion looked absolutely appalled. "Hermione, that's completely different! All I asked you to do was leave work for the day. You're asking me to be strapped into some tiny, muggle box and zoom around on something that is thinner than my waist! There is no fucking way that I am going on that."

"Zooming around on something thinner than your waist?" Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "How is that any different than flying on a broom?"

"Flying on a broom? Woman, I've been flying on a broom since I was two! There is no way that I am getting on something like that for the first time at the age of twenty."

What a child! No wonder the guy was in Slytherin. "Fine, we won't go on the rollercoasters, Draco. Don't have a cow."

"I was not having a cow! Malfoy's do not have cows," Draco said, scowling at her.

"Oh? And what do you call that little show, just then?" Hermione challenged, donning a smirk worthy of Draco's on a good day.

"Me, emphatically explaining something to you. Now, please find something else for me, Hermione."

Sighing in exasperation, Hermione looked around a few times before spotting a shooting range and smiling triumphantly. Now there was something that Draco was bound to enjoy.

"What do you know about guns, Draco?" Hermione asked him slyly.

"Guns? Well from what I've read about muggle laws, they are illegal to use as they usually result in instant death or extreme injury due to their ability to fire small silver bullets at high velocities."

"Right. Well here we have what muggles call a shooting range. This allows you to shoot a gun legally, all you have to do is pick up a gun, and try to shoot as many targets with it as possible."

Draco leaned in to whisper into her ear so that none of the muggles around could discern his words. "It's basically like pointing a wand and shooting a spell, yes?" How was it fucking possible for him to arouse her with a simple question? It was like he purposefully moved towards her ear, slower than normal, and let out a breath against her neck for the straightforward purpose of arousing her. She really needed to get her libido under control around him – they had only been seeing each other, or whatever the hell they were doing, for a week!

"Basically yes, Draco. Although these guns are much heavier to hold than a wand and it is slightly harder to aim," she told him. Popping a pound into the machine to run the game, she watched as Draco picked up a gun and copied the stance of the man next to him. Hermione saw him take a deep breath and focus, adjusting the gun is hands before he took fire, cleanly hitting every single target in the booth, one by one. Letting out a delighted laugh, she ran over to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek for his efforts. Who knew that Draco Malfoy would be an expert marksman?

He briefly wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist to steady her and she felt strangely bereft when he let her go after giving her a gentle squeeze. Turning she watched as most of the viewers burst into applause at Draco's performance as the manager of the booth told Draco to pick whatever prize he wanted. Scrutinizing her and the selection of prizes for a moment, Draco pointed to a comically large teddy bear in the centre of the display, before turning and presenting it to her with a flourish.

With one hand behind his back, he gave a little bow and smirked, "For you, my lady."

Heart beating ridiculously fast, Hermione smiled shyly and reached a hand towards the large teddy, delighting in her life resembling a cheesy movie scene for one moment.

"Thank you, Draco," she murmured quietly. Taking her arm, Draco steered them away from the crowd and said to her, "My lady." Turning the conversation around, he pointed up at the Ferris wheel, politely asking her if she would like to take a turn.

"Charming idea, Draco, really, but no," Hermione definitively stated. "I am not going anywhere near the Ferris wheel. There is no way in hell that I am going on something that goes up as high as that!"

"Now, now, my dearest Hermione, how would that be any different than let's say… oh I don't know, flying on a dragon out of Gringott's?" Draco asked her, smirking triumphantly. Prat.

Hermione glared at him. "Very funny, Draco. Simply hilarious. Your sense of humour is appalling. But seeing as you were so dead set against going on a rollercoaster, we are even."

Holding his hands up, Draco chuckled, and looping her arm through his, led her away towards the cotton candy.

Smiling, Hermione gladly let herself be led away, happy that she could have been convinced to skip work today. It had definitely been the most fun that she's had in months.


End file.
